Context
Visa operates a suite of risk compliance programs to mitigate the impact of excessive fraud and dispute activity on the Visa payment system and its participants. These compliance programs also aim to reduce client operational expenses related to fraud and disputes and improve the cardholder experience.
Effective 15 April 2023, Visa will update its dispute and fraud monitoring programs to include international and domestic transactions in all program calculations in Europe.
What is the Visa Dispute Monitoring Program (VDMP) ?
The Visa Dispute Monitoring Program (VDMP) monitors sales and dispute count activity to identify merchants with excessive dispute activity.
Visa will include in the program any merchant that meets or exceeds the thresholds for the following criteria: number of disputes and dispute-to-sales count ratio.
| Dispute transactions | Dispute rate | |
|---|---|---|
| Early Warning | ≥ 75 | ≥ 0.65% |
| Standard | ≥ 100 | ≥ 0.90% |
| Excessive / High-Risk | ≥ 1000 | ≥ 1,80% |
Find below the applicable monthly fees for each Program:
Non-Compliance Assessments for VDMP – Standard Program
| Month | Visa Action/Non-Compliance Assessment |
|---|---|
| Month 1 – 4 |
|
| Month 5 – 9 |
|
| Month 10 (and subsequent months) |
|
Non-Compliance Assessments for VDMP – Excessive/High-Risk Program
| Month | Visa Action/Non-Compliance Assessment |
|---|---|
| Month 1 – 6 |
|
| Month 7 – 11 |
|
| Month 12 (and subsequent months) |
|
A Merchant will exit the VDMP if it is below the program thresholds for 3 consecutive months.
What is the Visa Fraud Monitoring Program (VFMP) ?
The Visa Fraud Monitoring Program (VFMP) monitors sales and fraud amount activity to identify merchants with excessive fraud activity.
Visa will include in the program any merchant that meets or exceeds the thresholds for the following criteria: amount of fraud and fraud-to-sales ratio.
| Amont of Fraud | Fraud rate | |
|---|---|---|
| Early Warning | ≥ 50 000 $ | ≥ 0.65% |
| Standard | ≥ 75 000 $ | ≥ 0.90% |
| Excessive | ≥ 250 000 $ | ≥ 1% |
Find below the applicable monthly fees for each Program:
Non-Compliance Assessments for VFMP – Standard Program
| Month | Visa Action/Non-Compliance Assessment |
|---|---|
| Month 1 – 4 |
|
| Month 5 – 6 |
|
| Month 7 – 9 |
|
| Month 10 – 12 (and subsequent months) |
|
Non-Compliance Assessments for VFMP – Excessive/High-Risk Program
| Month | Visa Action/Non-Compliance Assessment |
|---|---|
| Month 1 – 3 |
|
| Month 4 – 6 |
|
| Month 7 – 9 |
|
| Month 10 – 12 (and subsequent |
|
A Merchant will exit the VDMP if it is below the program thresholds for 3 consecutive months.
What is the Visa Digital Goods Merchant Fraud Monitoring Program?
On effective 1 October 2023, Visa will implement a new “Visa Digital Goods Merchant Fraud Monitoring Program”.
It will focus on fraud transactions for digital goods merchants for the following merchant category codes (MCCs):
- MCC 5735—Record Stores
- MCC 5815—Digital Goods Media—Books, Movies, Digital artwork/images, Music
- MCC 5816—Digital Goods—Games
- MCC 5817—Digital Goods—Applications (Excludes Games)
- MCC 5818—Digital Goods—Large Digital Goods Merchant
Similar to Visa Fraud Monitoring Program (VFMP), the Digital Merchant Program will be based on fraud and sales transactions that take place in the prior month of the notification.
Visa will include in the program any merchant that meets or exceeds the thresholds for the following criteria:
| Fraud Amount | Fraud Count | Fraud Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Warning | 15 000 $ | 150 | ≥ 0.45% |
| Standard | 25 000 $ | 300 | ≥ 0.9% |
Find below the applicable monthly fees for each Program:
Non-Compliance Assessments for Visa Digital Goods Merchant Fraud Monitoring Program
| Month | Visa Action/Non-Compliance Assessment |
|---|---|
| Month 1 – 4 |
|
| Month 5 – 6 |
|
| Month 7 – 9 |
|
|
Month 10 (And subsequent months) |
|
A Merchant will exit the program if it is below the program thresholds for 3 consecutive months.
Please note that at Visa's discretion, in case of a duplicate identification in both « Visa Fraud Monitoring Program (VFMP) » and « Visa Digital Goods Merchant Fraud Monitoring Program », one of the cases might be closed and you might be subject to only one non-compliance assessment (NCA).