Monica Eaton, Founder and CEO of Chargebacks911, was recently featured in a new article from payments infrastructure provider Primer examining the implications of Visa’s Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP). The feature brings together perspectives from payments experts across the industry, including Eaton, to explain how the program is changing the way merchants and acquirers need to approach fraud and dispute management.
The article explores how VAMP represents a significant shift from the way payment risk has traditionally been measured. Rather than treating fraud reports and disputes as separate issues, Visa’s program combines them into a broader risk calculation. This means merchants can no longer rely solely on their own chargeback ratios to assess their exposure; the risk profile of their entire acquirer portfolio can also have consequences for individual businesses.
“The biggest misconception is that only merchants who are at risk of breaching VAMP thresholds need to care,” Monica explains.
The feature draws on findings from Chargebacks911’s 2026 Chargeback Field Report, which found that only 23% of merchants surveyed considered themselves “very” informed about card network rules, while another 16% said they had no knowledge of them at all. Monica argues that merchants need greater visibility into their payment risk and should take a proactive approach rather than waiting until they approach a VAMP threshold. She describes the coming period as a “prove it” year, during which merchants will need to demonstrate that their risk-management practices can withstand real-world pressure.
