Visa's new 1.5% chargeback threshold is already in effect

📌 Visa Tightened Its Dispute Threshold to 1.5%

On April 1, 2026, Visa cut its Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) 'Excessive' threshold from 2.2% down to 1.5% for merchants in the US, Canada, and EU. Cross it and you face $8-per-transaction fines with no warning tier — a far lower bar than before. If your chargeback ratio was fine last year, it may now be over the line.

✅ What to do: Pull your current chargeback ratio this week. If you're above 1.0%, you're in the danger zone — prioritize prevention before you hit 1.5%.

📌 Friendly Fraud Now Drives Up to 70% of Disputes

First-party ('friendly') fraud — customers disputing charges they actually authorized — now accounts for up to 70% of all fraud cases and is projected to hit 28% of all chargebacks globally in 2026. It costs merchants an estimated $132 billion a year, and 75% of customers go straight to their bank without contacting the merchant first.

✅ What to do: Make your billing descriptor instantly recognizable and send a post-purchase email with order details to reduce 'I don't recognize this charge' disputes.

📌 Manual Dispute Responses Win Under 20% — AI Wins More

Merchants who fight chargebacks manually win less than 20% of cases, and the response window is just 7–21 days. But AI-assisted evidence collection boosts win rates by at least 25%, and automated workflows reach 60–70% win rates on challenged cases — versus the ~54% industry average.

✅ What to do: Stop hand-writing dispute responses. Automate evidence collection (delivery confirmations, IP logs, terms acceptance) so you can respond fast and consistently.

🛡️ Want automated chargeback defense?

ChargeGuard uses AI to detect, respond to, and prevent chargebacks before they happen.