What triggers this status
Visa enrolls merchants in VDMP at 0.9% chargeback ratio (or 100 disputes/month), Mastercard ECP starts at 1.5%. Once enrolled, the merchant pays $25,000+ in monitoring fees, and the acquirer is on a 12-month clock to either fix the ratio or terminate. Most acquirers terminate around month 6.
The fix isn't one tool — it's a stack: chargeback alerts (Verifi RDR + Ethoca) to deflect disputes inside the 72-hour cure window, descriptor optimization, 3DS2 for liability shift, refund-before-dispute workflows, and product-quality fixes for the underlying complaint pattern.
What underwriters look at
10.4 fraud vs 13.1 'service not as described' vs 11.3 'not as described' each need different fixes.
0.95% trending down beats 0.7% trending up. Acquirers want to see the curve.
RDR / Ethoca / 3DS2 / Kount in place vs. nothing in place is a major signal.
Easy customer-side cancellation reduces disputes more than any fraud tool.
What we need to rebuild your file
- Last 6 months processing with chargeback reports
- VDMP / ECP enrollment letters
- Bank statements (3 months)
- Current refund + cancellation policy
- Current fraud-prevention stack (or willingness to enable ours)
- Reason-code report from current processor
Path back to approval
The path is: specialist acquirer + alerts stack day-one + descriptor and refund fixes. We typically drop chargeback ratios by 40–70% in the first 60 days after enabling Verifi RDR (which deflects Visa disputes pre-chargeback) and Ethoca (which catches Mastercard).
Pricing starts at 3.95% – 5.95% + $0.30 with 5–10% rolling reserve. After 6 months under threshold, we step down reserve and re-negotiate pricing. After 12 months clean, you exit VDMP/ECP and pricing returns to standard high-risk band.
Approval timeline
- 1Soft review (same day)
We review your reason-code breakdown and current stack before any application.
- 2Alerts wiring (1–2 days)
Verifi RDR + Ethoca enrolled immediately — even before MID approval, on your existing MID if possible.
- 3Underwriting (3–7 business days)
Specialist acquirer reviews trend + remediation plan, not just current ratio.
- 460-day ratio drop
Alerts typically cut new disputes 40–70%; new MID + old data washes through; you exit monitoring at month 12.