This one is for sellers and merchants, not cardholders. It answers one question the other tools do not: what is your Mastercard ratio, and does it cross the ECM or HECM line? Enter this month's first-presentment chargebacks and last month's Mastercard transactions, and it computes the ratio itself, judges it against both Mastercard tiers, and shows your headroom — plus, optionally, the separate fraud-only EFM check. It is not the Chargeback Ratio Calculator — that tool uses a same-month ratio with no tier logic — and it is not the VAMP Threshold Checker, which judges Visa's different formula.
Thresholds checked October 29, 2026 — every figure below is taken from the sources named on this page and matches this site's own monitoring and ratio pages (ECM 1.5% / 100, HECM 3.0% / 300, no mismatch). Mastercard's rulebooks are not public, and your acquirer's own limits may be stricter than any network line. This is a self-check against published thresholds, never a Mastercard determination.
Does your Mastercard ratio cross ECM or HECM?
Everything is counted in your browser and never sent anywhere. This checker asks for no card numbers, account numbers or merchant IDs — never enter those into any checker.
Mastercard counts first-presentment chargebacks — the ones as first filed. Winning a dispute later does not remove it from the count.
The denominator is last month's Mastercard transactions, not this month's. A sales dip raises next month's official ratio on the same chargeback count — that one-month lag is the trap in this formula.
Only used for the fine-timing note: month 1 over the line is a warning with no assessment; assessments apply from month 2 and escalate with consecutive months. Leave it blank and no timing note is shown.
EFM gate 1: at least 1,000 prior-month e-commerce transactions.
EFM counts only these two fraud reason codes, on e-commerce sales — not your total chargeback count.
EFM gate 2: at least USD 50,000 in fraud chargebacks.
Share of clearing volume processed with 3DS. Raising this above the regional gate keeps you out of EFM even when the fraud numbers would otherwise qualify.
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The thresholds, in one view
How the Mastercard ratio is worked out
The Mastercard chargeback-to-transaction ratio is this month's first-presentment chargebacks divided by last month's Mastercard transactions, count-based rather than dollar-weighted. It is judged against two tiers of one program, the Excessive Chargeback Program (ECP) — ECM, then HECM — with a ratio line and a count gate that must both be met in the same month. A third, separate program, EFM, watches fraud only.
Program tier
Ratio line
Count gate
What it counts
ECM (Excessive Chargeback Merchant)
1.5%
100+ chargebacks / month
All first-presentment chargebacks
HECM (High Excessive Chargeback Merchant)
3.0%
300+ chargebacks / month
All first-presentment chargebacks
EFM (Excessive Fraud Merchant)
50 basis points (0.5%) fraud ratio
1,000+ prior-month e-commerce transactions and USD 50,000+ fraud amount and 3DS at or below 10% (US/Canada) or 50% (Europe/regulated)
Fraud codes 4837 and 4863 on e-commerce sales only
Three cautions sit under every row. First, the denominator lag: because Mastercard divides by last month's transactions, a slow sales month raises next month's official ratio on the same chargeback count. Second, winning disputes does not lower any of these ratios: Mastercard counts first-presentment chargebacks and does not recalculate for representment outcomes. Third, these are the network's lines. Your acquirer or processor can set stricter limits in your merchant agreement and act on your account before any tier trips.
What happens in the program — and what it costs
When a merchant crosses a tier, the published pattern is a remediation plan, monthly review, and assessments that start in the second month in program and escalate with consecutive months over threshold, plus a separate per-chargeback issuer recovery assessment on chargebacks over 300. This page states no dollar amounts, deliberately: published dollar schedules conflict across summaries (one source's own summary table disagrees with its full article table on the HECM month-2 and month-3 figures, and a per-chargeback figure quoted elsewhere disagrees with the 2019-guide figure), and the binding schedule is the one in your merchant agreement. Any page that quotes you a single Mastercard fine figure without that caveat is simplifying past the point of usefulness — ask your acquirer for the schedule that applies to your account, and budget from that, not from a blog figure.
Exit takes three consecutive months below the program's thresholds. A single good month does not close the audit, and one month back over threshold restarts the clock. If a MID trips both ECM and EFM in the same month, only the EFM assessment applies — the ECM assessment is suspended until EFM exit.
Want the full story, with the sources?
The companion article works through the Mastercard formula with worked examples, the tier table, the EFM four-condition check, what happens at each tier, and the remediation pointers that actually move the numerator — each claim tied to its source. Read it here: Mastercard ECM, HECM and EFM explained.
ECM starts at 100 or more chargebacks in a month with a chargeback-to-transaction ratio of 1.5% or higher. HECM is the higher tier at 300 or more chargebacks with a ratio of 3.0% or higher. Both the count and the ratio must hold in the same month.
Mastercard divides first-presentment chargebacks received in the current month by Mastercard transactions processed in the previous month, then multiplies by 100. The denominator is last month's transactions, not this month's — so a sales dip raises next month's official ratio on the same chargeback count.
EFM is a separate, fraud-only program for e-commerce sales. It counts only fraud reason codes 4837 and 4863, and it trips only when all four conditions hold in the same month: at least 1,000 prior-month e-commerce transactions, at least USD 50,000 in fraud chargebacks, a fraud ratio of at least 50 basis points (0.5%), and 3DS utilisation at or below 10% in the US and Canada or 50% in Europe and other regulated markets. If a merchant trips both ECM and EFM in the same month, only the EFM assessment applies.
By staying below the program's thresholds for three consecutive months. A single good month does not close the audit, and one month back over threshold restarts the three-month clock. Assessments apply from the second month in program; the first month over the line is a warning with no assessment.
No. This is a self-check against published thresholds. Mastercard judges your position on your acquirer's own count, which can differ from yours, and your merchant agreement may set stricter limits. Confirm your position with your acquirer.
Sources (checked October 29, 2026): This site's merchant-monitoring-program-checker.html and chargeback-ratio-calculator.html (ECM 1.5% / 100, HECM 3.0% / 300, last-month denominator, EFM four conditions as stated there — no mismatch found); Chargeback.io — Mastercard Chargeback Monitoring Program: ECM vs. EFM (ECM 100+ / 1.5%, HECM 300+ / 3.0%, current-month chargebacks over prior-month sales, EFM 1,000+ / USD 50,000+ / 50 bps / 3DS 10% US-Canada and 50% Europe, EFM-only billing when both trip, 3-clean-month exit, fines from month 2, citing Mastercard's ECP Guide Dec 2019 and EFM Program FAQ Feb 2022); Chargeflow — Mastercard Excessive Chargeback Program (ECP) Guide 2026 (ECM 100–299 / 1.5%–2.99%, HECM 300+ / 3%+, first-presentment basis, worked example 150 July / 7,500 June = 2%, EFM four criteria incl. reason codes 4837 and 4863, 3DS carve-out, 3-clean-month exit, fines from month 2, citing Mastercard's Security Rules and Procedures and JPMorgan's ECM/EFM guides); Chargebacks911 — Mastercard chargebacks guide (ECM 1.5% / 100+, HECM 3.0% / 300+, prior-month denominator, first fine in month 2); Redo — Mastercard Excessive Chargeback Program (ECM 100+ / 1.50%, HECM 300+ / 3.00%, prior-month denominator, checked July 23, 2026 against JPMorgan/Braintree/Moneris reproductions); PaymentCloud — Mastercard chargebacks guide (prior-month denominator, 3-month-below exit rule, remediation plan requirement). Mastercard's rulebooks are not public; figures are as published in Mastercard's program guides as summarised by these guides, and can change. No dollar fine amounts are stated on this page: published dollar schedules conflict across summaries, and the binding assessment schedule sits in your merchant agreement.
General information only — not legal or financial advice. Whether a threshold is crossed depends on your acquirer's own counts and your merchant agreement, which no checker can see. This checker applies the published rules to the figures you entered. Never enter a card number, account number or merchant ID into any checker — no genuine threshold check needs them.
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