TL;DR — Visa’s new VAMP ratio counts fraud + all disputes (even RDRs). Keep it under 1 % or risk fines, reserves and MID shutdown.

I like to think I know a thing or two about payment processing - 22 years, nearly $500m - half a billion dollars - in payments processed.

In 2003, I founded Venntro Media Group, which became the world’s largest privately owned online dating business, achieving nearly $50 million in annual revenue and $8 million EBITDA - and total revenues of nearly half a billion dollars - all without external investment. Our flagship platform, White Label Dating, empowered hundreds of entrepreneurs to launch their own dating sites, helping many people achieve financial independence.

I’ve spent the past 22 years building and running online-dating and other subscription products.

Brilliant marketing and a solid product kept the lights on, but payment processing was always the single biggest headache: matching fraud filters to genuine users, fielding angry “I never signed up!” emails, and praying my chargeback ratio didn’t spike at the wrong moment.

The new Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) raises that bar again—and if you bill consumers every month, you cannot ignore it.

Before I give you the 6 things you should immediately do to stay out of the clutches of the VAMPire, be sure to sign up to my mailing list for future articles about VAMP, payment processing and subscription businesses:

What VAMP actually is (plain English)

Old world VAMP world (2025+)
Separate programmes – VFMP (fraud) & VDMP (disputes) Single VAMP ratio = fraud alerts + disputes
RDR fraud alerts excluded Fraud-type RDR included (11 Mar 2025 bulletin)
Merchant-only threshold Acquirer cap 0.5 % ⇒ lower merchant buffers

If you would like to read more, there are good articles at https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/visa-announces-new-change-to-vamp-rules and https://justt.ai/blog/visa-acquirer-monitoring-program-vamp/?utm_source=chatgpt.com.

So what are the Key thresholds at launch (1 June 2025):

  • Merchants “Excessive”    = 1.5 % VAMP ratio and ≥ 1  500 events
  • Enumeration trap          = > 20 % of authorisations classed as card-testing and ≥ 300 000 attempts (≈ 2 000 bps) 
  • Enforcement: advisory notices until 30 Sep 2025, then fines from 1 Oct 2025 
  • 2026 squeeze: merchant cap falls to 0.9 % in North America, EU & AP. 

(Mastercard’s Excessive Chargeback Program still triggers at 100 chargebacks + 1.5 % for ECM, 300 + 3 % for HECM.) 

Why subscription businesses must move early

There is no time to delay - it's critical if you run a subscription business that you act now to avoid termination:

  1. RDR is no longer a free pass. Every fraud dispute you auto-refund through RDR now adds to your VAMP ratio. Heavy RDR users could jump from 0.9 % to > 1.5 % overnight. 
  2. Acquirers will act first. Because their own ceiling is 0.5 %, many processors are already warning merchants at 0.7 – 0.8 %. Miss that buffer and you risk higher reserves—or termination. 
  3. Enumeration is an instant red card. One bot attack that sends 300 k test authorisations can enrol you in VAMP even if your chargebacks are low. Dating sites are prime targets. 

A six-point action plan to stay out of VAMP

Here are 6 critical steps to implement - these steps could save your business:

  1. Make cancellation painless
    1. Permanent “Cancel subscription” button in account settings.
    2. 2-click flow: select reason → confirm.
    3. (If canceling with you is harder than disputing with a bank app, you will lose.)
  2. Talk to customers before they forget you
    1.  Automated email/SMS 48 h before every rebill (amount + date + cancel link).
    2. Monthly “Here’s what you got” usage summaries.
  3. Price for trust, not traps
    1. Replace $0 free trials with a $0.99 verification fee—weeds out stolen cards.
    2. Offer a low-cost “pause” plan so bored users downgrade instead of charging back.
  4. Refund on Request
    1. If a user complains within the first week of a cycle, refund instantly.
    2. A voluntary credit reduces revenue; a forced chargeback hits revenue and VAMP.
  5. Block Card Testing
    1. CAPTCHA or WebAuthn on signup.
    2. Velocity rules on BIN, IP, email domain.
    3. 100 % 3-D Secure 2.2 on first purchase.
  6. Monitor the Right Metrics Daily
    1. Track:
      1. Combined disputes + TC40 count• VAMP % (same-month denominator)
      2. Mastercard % (previous-month denominator)
      3. Enumeration bps
      4. Sound the alarm at 1.0 % OR 75 events—a full billing cycle before breach.

How this affects your profitability

Delivering a product people genuinely value—and making it as easy to leave as it is to join—isn’t just a compliance checkbox.

It’s exactly what Visa and Mastercard are pushing us toward.

Get there first and you’ll process cards (and sleep) with far fewer nightmares.

Before

After solid VAMP compliance

High gross from “silent” renewals—but 1 – 2 % chargebacks, periodic fines, rolling reserves.

Slight dip in gross (trial fee + faster refunds) but no fines, lower reserves, higher auth rates, lower ad-platform flags. Net margin often improves.

Final thought

Make Love not VAMP

Twenty-two years of dating-site scars have taught me one lesson: the card schemes always win eventually.

Align with the direction they’re pointing—clear consent, effortless cancellation, and honest billing—and VAMP becomes just another acronym, not an existential threat.

Stay under 1 %, and keep building services users want to keep paying for - and if you want help, contact the Dating Industry Expert - I hear he can help.