By Joseph Bryson March 4, 2026
Payment network has strict compliance for high-risk verticals, such as CBD merchants. It is not just about avoiding fines but also about surviving as a business. Payment networks like Visa and MasterCard have created monitoring systems to determine the eligibility for card transactions or to get flagged risks for chargebacks. Industries use Visa VAMP, and MasterCard uses the excessive chargeback program to monitor whether a business is meeting its compliance standards.
CBD merchants who sell products through subscription models, ship internationally, or experience frequent disputes with their customers. Understanding both of these payment network methods is crucial to maintain. This article provides insight into what VAMP is, different aspects of the VAMP metrics, and how to avoid being flagged under the excessive chargeback program.
What Is Visa VAMP?
Visa VAMP stands for Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program. VAMP was launched on April 1, 2025, as a program that combines multiple previous Visa monitoring systems into one worldwide process. This is a risk-monitoring system that functions as a complete framework and monitors fraudulent activities. It also involves dispute resolution processes that occur between merchants and acquirers.
Visa calculates a combined metric known as the VAMP ratio, which factors in both fraud (typically reported as fraud codes like TC40) and customer disputes (often tracked under TC15). The system evaluates the ratio against internal thresholds that the company created to identify various risk categories.
Visa requires merchants to implement mitigation actions whenever they go beyond established limits, which include monitoring requirements and restrictions on processing activities. The understanding of Visa VAMP becomes crucial for CBD merchants as it has a higher risk of disputes and fraud, which can cause processing restrictions.
How Visa VAMP Is Calculated — Including TC40, TC15, TC05
The VAMP ratio forms the basis for evaluating Visa’s program. It measures the merchant’s Visa online transactions by connecting the fraud and dispute events. Visa uses the following formula to calculate the VAMP ratio:
- VAMP Ratio – (number of TC40s + number of TC15s) ÷ Number of TC05s.
The breakdown of each item is as follows:
- TC40 – Fraud Events (fraud reports marked for investigation by issuing banks).
- TC15 – Non-Fraud Disputes (consists of traditional chargebacks and contested transactions).
- TC05 – Settled Transactions (basis for calculating the VAMP ratio).
Visa reviews all the transactions processed through VisaNet (domestically and cross-border). This result will be expressed with 100 basis points equaling 1% (i.e., if the VAMP Ratio is 150 basis points, then 1.50% of those transactions are considered as disputes).
VAMP Thresholds April 2026
Visa established a new program in 2025-2026, which includes reduced acceptable ratio limits for major markets. The program began its enforcement phase on October 1, 2025, which resulted in the implementation of new standards.
Visa’s VAMP thresholds separate the merchants into two groups. Merchants undergo evaluation according to these primary evaluation categories:
- Above standard — VAMP ratio in moderate risk zone.
- Excessive merchant threshold — VAMP ratio that is high enough to trigger mitigations, restrictions, or fines.
The visa acquirer monitoring program sheet states that threshold values show minor regional variations. The VAMP excessive merchant levels in key markets (U.S., Canada, EU, Asia Pacific) usually stay at 220 bps, which will drop to 150 bps in April 2026 for specific regions.
Visa requires at least 1,500 fraud and dispute events to be reported in major markets during a month. Merchants gain protection, which enables them to minimize their chances of monitoring or enforcement activities.
Mastercard ECP (Excessive Chargeback Program)
Mastercard implements its own system for managing disputes through the Mastercard Excessive Chargeback Program. The rules established by Mastercard for its acquirers and merchants function as components of its global compliance programs. Mastercard uses its ECP to track merchant performance through monthly assessments that evaluate two criteria:
- The total number of chargebacks that occurred during a specific month.
- The ratio between chargebacks and overall transactions.
Mastercard establishes two main tiers of operation:
- Excessive Chargeback Merchant (ECM) — Merchants that have 100 or more chargebacks and a chargeback ratio of approximately 1.5% or greater.
- High Excessive Chargeback Merchant (HECM) — Merchants that have 300 or more chargebacks and a chargeback ratio of about 3.0% or greater.
Merchants who enter ECM or HECM status must develop plans to fix their problems while reducing customer disputes to achieve better performance results. The merchant faces increasing fines when their violations continue beyond established threshold limits.
Visa VAMP vs Mastercard ECP
The two systems evaluate risk through dispute and fraud performance assessment, and use different metric systems to measure performance.
- Visa VAMP Program
This program implements a combined metric system that measures fraud and disputes against all transactions processed through its system. The system identifies an above-standard threshold, which uses fraud reporting codes TC40 and TC15 to determine his fraud status. The Visa system uses multiple monitoring systems to create a unified one, which imposes penalties for any detected violations.
- Mastercard ECP
The system of Mastercard uses chargeback data to calculate its total operational performance, which measures the sales from the previous month. This system monitors ECM and HECM tier levels, which include chargeback totals and chargeback ratio values. Mastercard ECP system enforces its network rules, which can produce remediation costs and penalties that accumulate over time.
The two payment systems require separate compliance from CBD merchants who accept both Visa and Mastercard payments. The requirements for Visa VAMP thresholds do not establish automatic compliance with Mastercard ECP rules.
Why Visa VAMP Matters for CBD Merchants?
Merchants that sell CBD products face special risk profiles and are subject to stricter monitoring programs. CBD merchants frequently offer recurring payment products, which often result in higher chargebacks and payment reversals. Many customers initiate disputes based on a perception or misunderstanding of the product in their region. Many CBD merchants are located outside the U.S., and the prevalence of cross-border sales means a higher risk signal activity.
Visa states that charges related to online fraud and disputes represent more substantial risks for payment processing for CBD merchants. These data points lead to an increase in the VAMP ratio. On the contrary, if the VAMP ratio goes near or above the defined limits, the excessive merchant threshold may potentially terminate the payment processing privileges.
What is the Visa VAMP Ratio?
Merchants request information about the Visa VAMP ratio because this metric serves as a fundamental measure to evaluate disputes and fraud handling effectiveness. The Visa VAMP ratio is a calculation method that counts TC40 fraud incidents, TC15 disputes, and divides the total by the VisaNet transactions, which have a TC05 value.
This ratio, expressed in basis points, enables the company to measure risk across different merchants and geographical areas. The program identifies merchants who exceed the maximum acceptable ratio of merchant activity as candidates for investigation. CBD merchants with recurring billing or uncertain billing descriptors may see their vamp ratios creep higher unless active dispute reduction protocols are in place.
VAMP Thresholds April 2026
By April of 2026, Visa will continue to lower the permissible limits for key countries. Evidence indicates that North America, the EU, and the Asia-Pacific regions will see restrictions of approximately 150 bps (1.5%). This will be a significant reduction over prior limits established in earlier phases.
Merchants currently at or near the minimum levels established by Visa should consider 150 bps as their threshold for potential risk of enforcement action. This helps to remain below these levels during the time frame to protect their business and account.
How to Avoid Mastercard ECP and Visa VAMP Escalation
Many merchants ask about “how to avoid Mastercard ECP?” The acquirer system should track weekly dispute ratios. The business must maintain both the VAMP and the chargeback ratio at levels that stay below the maximum limits established for merchants and ECMs.
The implementation of advanced fraud controls, including 3D Secure, velocity checks, AVS, and CVV validation, helps decrease the usage of stolen cards and enumeration attacks. The steps that have been outlined will decrease both the VAMP ratio and the card chargeback rates, which will result in decreased enforcement risk for both Visa and Mastercard compliance programs.
Conclusion
The payment sector needs Visa VAMP and Mastercard ECP as essential compliance frameworks because these systems help to assess payment risks. CBD merchants need to learn about Visa VAMP and track their ratio and chargeback. The current performance against VAMP thresholds, which will take effect in April 2026, is to prevent business interruptions.
Visa’s monitoring program combines various fraud and dispute resolution systems into one compliance metric. Mastercard ECP uses ECM and HECM tiers to enforce chargeback performance standards. The merchant operations of both programs impose fines and remediation tasks, that results in processor termination when merchants breach operational limits.
The proactive management of fraud signals by CBD merchants and Visa-Mastercard ECP exposure tracking helps them achieve stability. Hence, it acquires better relationships while decreasing its long-term processing risks.
FAQs
What is the Visa VAMP ratio?
Visa’s VAMP ratio consists of the sum of fraud reports (TC40) and disputes (TC15) divided by the sum of settled Visa transactions (TC05) to determine a merchant’s risk.
What are the VAMP thresholds as of April 2026?
Visa plans to tighten thresholds in major markets to approximately 1.5% (150 basis points) for merchants beginning in April 2026. Merchants whose ratios are above this threshold may be subject to enforcement action.
What do TC40, TC15, and TC05 represent?
TC40 tracks incidents of fraud reporting, TC15 tracks incidents of disputes, and TC05 itself simply counts all settled transactions to calculate the VAMP ratio.
What is the Mastercard Excessive Chargeback Program?
Mastercard’s ECP monitors the number of chargebacks processed on a per-month basis relative to the total number of transactions processed in that month.
What can CBD merchants do to remain compliant with Visa VAMP and Mastercard ECP?
CBD merchants should track their ratios weekly, implement fraud prevention tools, and enhance billing clarity to reduce the number of disputes.