Visa's 1.5% Dispute Threshold: What Changed in April 2026 for Subscription Merchants

Chargeback Gurus, Checkout.com and EasyPayDirect each describe the change. The merchant Excessive ratio moved from 2.2% to 1.5% on 1 April 2026 in North America, the EU and Asia-Pacific. Enforcement of the merchant Excessive level had begun on 1 October 2025.

The same sources report a fee of about 8 dollars for each fraud report or dispute once a merchant is above the level, cut from 10 dollars. The fee is charged to the acquirer, which passes it on to the merchant.

All of this comes from vendor publications that we read through search summaries. None of it comes from Visa's rules. Visa's own fact sheet, listed in the sources, was read for the monthly minimum; the other figures here come from vendors. Treat the table as what is reported, and ask your acquirer for the figures that apply to your account.

Chargeflow describes the formula as fraud reports, which Visa labels TC40, plus disputes, labeled TC15, divided by settled card-not-present transactions. Another source uses total settled transactions as the denominator. The difference matters for a merchant with in-person sales, so ask your acquirer which one it applies.

The inclusion of fraud reports is the part merchants tend to miss. An issuer can file a fraud report on a transaction without a chargeback following. Under the reported formula that transaction still adds to the numerator.

For a subscription business the arithmetic is unforgiving. Visa's own fact sheet adds a floor that vendor summaries often leave out: the merchant level applies only once fraud reports and disputes reach at least 1,500 in a month. At 1.5%, a merchant settling 100,000 card-not-present transactions in a month reaches the level at 1,500 combined fraud reports and disputes.

A renewal arrives weeks or months after sign-up. If the customer does not recognize it, the quickest route for them is the bank. Each such dispute counts toward the ratio whether or not you later win it.

We did not find data on what share of disputes involve cancelled recurring charges. We also did not retrieve the card networks' own rule text on recurring billing and free trials. The exposure described here is a matter of how the ratio is built, and its size for your business is something only your own numbers can show.

Visa's Compelling Evidence 3.0 is the best-known evidence standard. As Chargebacks911 and Solidgate describe it, a merchant can answer a fraud dispute by showing prior undisputed transactions from the same cardholder with matching data elements, such as device ID, IP address or login.

For disputes about a renewal the customer says they did not agree to, the useful material is plainer. It is the terms shown at checkout, the recurring-billing disclosure, the action the customer took to accept, the reminders sent and the use of the service afterward.

An honest limit applies here. We found no sourced evidence that merchants lose disputes specifically because they lack proof of consent. A checkout record is a reasonable input to a response. It is not shown to change outcomes.

• The terms and the recurring-billing disclosure as displayed at checkout
• The acceptance action, with its date, time and device
• Renewal reminders and receipts sent, with delivery times
• Logins or usage after the charge in question
• Any cancel request, and when it was honored

According to Chargebacks911 and Solidgate, the standard applies only to Visa reason code 10.4, which is card-absent fraud. It does not reach disputes filed under other reason codes, such as a claim that a subscription was cancelled.

It also needs prior undisputed transactions. The sources describe a 120-day history. A dispute raised in the first billing cycle arrives before that history exists, so the standard cannot be used for it.

One recent change widened its reach. From 18 April 2026 it is reported to cover fraud reports that were not disputed, which are the TC40 events that also count toward the ratio.

Chargeflow's customers 'simply pay 25% of any successful chargeback settled in their favor', according to a Growth Unhinged article of 15 January 2025 that put the company at 15,000 merchants. Disputifier lists 20% of recovered revenue on the Shopify app store. Justt, a competitor of both, reports that Stripe's Smart Disputes carries a 30% success fee from June 2025.

Win rates depend on the definition used. Figures collected by Chargeback Gurus include an average win rate of about 20% for contested disputes and 8.1% of all disputes won outright. These are vendor-compiled numbers and should be read as such.

A success fee is paid on disputes that have already happened. The reported formula counts disputes as they are filed, so recovering the money and managing the ratio are separate problems.

A record made at checkout costs little and cannot be rebuilt later. The page changes, the price changes and the terms are revised. What you need in a dispute is the version this customer saw.

Keep the record tied to the transaction so that it can be found from a dispute notice. The list is a practical starting set. It does not come from a card-network rule.

• The checkout page as displayed, including price, billing frequency and renewal terms
• The version of the terms in force at that moment
• The acceptance action, with timestamp, IP address and device
• The login or account the purchase was made from
• The confirmation message and when it was delivered
• Each later reminder, receipt and price-change notice