This one is for sellers and merchants, not cardholders. It answers the question every merchant with a rising ratio asks — how many chargebacks before a merchant account is closed? — honestly: there is no single published number. What exists instead is a ladder: published network lines (Visa VAMP, Mastercard ECM / HECM), each needing both a ratio and a count gate in the same month, plus your own processor's warning signals, which often arrive before any network line trips. Enter your ratio, your count and any signals you have already received, and this checker gives you a risk band — lower, elevated, high or critical — with headroom and the next steps. It is a self-check, not a prediction: no checker can promise what your acquirer will do.
Thresholds checked October 30, 2026 — every figure below is taken from the sources named on this page and matches this site's own VAMP and ECM checkers (VAMP 1.5% / 1,500, ECM 1.5% / 100, HECM 3.0% / 300, no mismatch). Network rulebooks are not public, and your acquirer's own limits may be stricter than any network line.
Where does your account stand?
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.
Your chargebacks as a percentage of transactions for the month — enter 1.8 for 1.8%. Use the ratio your acquirer reports if you have it; if you only have counts, divide chargebacks by transactions and multiply by 100. Note: the strict Visa VAMP ratio counts fraud reports plus disputes over settled card-not-present transactions, which is a different base — see the VAMP caution in your result.
Chargebacks filed in the same month as the ratio above. The count matters as much as the ratio: every published line needs both.
Signals are evidence your acquirer is already acting. One signal with no line crossed puts you in the elevated band; two or more alongside a crossed line puts you in the critical band. A signal never means termination by itself.
Context only — it never moves the band by itself. Sustained time over a line is what turns monitoring into escalation, and for Mastercard, exiting takes three consecutive months below threshold.
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The lines and the ladder, in one view
How termination risk is actually judged
There is no single published number of chargebacks that closes an account on its own — the count alone never decides anything. What the published record shows is a ladder with two kinds of rungs: network lines, which need a ratio and a count gate in the same month, and processor actions, which your acquirer can take at any point, including before any network line trips.
Published line
Ratio line
Count gate
What crossing it means
Visa VAMP — merchant Excessive (main regions)
1.5%
1,500+ counted fraud reports + disputes / month
Monitoring tier, fees via your acquirer, remediation required
Visa VAMP — merchant Excessive (CEMEA)
2.2%
150+ counted events / month (plus a USD value condition)
Same monitoring tier, CEMEA thresholds
Mastercard ECM
1.5%
100+ chargebacks / month
Entry tier: remediation plan, monthly review, assessments from month 2
Mastercard HECM
3.0%
300+ chargebacks / month
Higher tier: same pattern, escalated
Under and around those lines sit the processor actions ChargebackHelp lists as the escalation path: rolling reserves, fund holds or delayed payouts, higher processing rates, monitoring-program placement — and, in the most severe cases, account termination. Acquirers watch trends, not just single months, so a steady climb can prompt review while you are still below every network line. That is why this checker has an elevated band for signals without a crossed line: it is the documented stage where your processor is already acting.
What termination can lead to — and what it cannot
If an acquirer closes an account for excessive chargebacks, the business could be added to the MATCH list (Member Alert to Control High-risk Merchants), the database maintained by Mastercard. Listings typically remain for five years, and many acquirers will decline to open a new account for a listed business — which can mean a high-risk processor at much steeper rates, or losing the ability to accept cards entirely. Two hedges matter. First, could be: not every termination produces a MATCH listing, only terminations tied to a reportable reason code do. Second, this checker never predicts termination: a critical band means the published lines and your own signals put you at the stage just before termination decisions, not that a decision has been made or will be made.
One figure this page deliberately does not use as a rule: the 0.75% Stripe figure quoted in some secondary guides. Stripe publishes no chargeback-rate threshold of its own, and the better secondary guides say to treat 0.75% as a rule of thumb, not a network or Stripe threshold. A rule of thumb cannot move a risk band, so it does not appear in the checker at all — see the companion guide for the full note.
Want the full story, with the sources?
The companion article walks the whole ladder — both network formulas, the escalation path, the MATCH consequence, and the first-days sequence if your account is actually closed — each claim tied to its source. Read it here: Merchant account terminated: what to do first.
There is no single published number. It depends on the card network, your acquirer, and your industry: Visa and Mastercard set thresholds through their monitoring programs, and many acquirers apply stricter internal limits of their own. A network line needs both its ratio and its count gate in the same month, and your merchant agreement's own termination clause may set a lower figure that governs your account.
Lower means no published line is crossed and no processor-warning signal was reported. Elevated means no line is crossed but your processor is already acting. High means a published line is crossed. Critical means the highest Mastercard tier is crossed, or a line is crossed while your processor is already acting on several fronts. The band is a self-check, not a prediction of what your acquirer will do.
MATCH (Member Alert to Control High-risk Merchants) is Mastercard's database of merchants whose accounts were terminated for specific reasons, including excessive chargebacks. Listings typically remain for five years, and many acquirers decline to open a new account for a listed business. Not every termination produces a MATCH listing — only terminations tied to a reportable reason code do.
No. This is a self-check against published thresholds plus the warning signals you report. Your acquirer judges your position on its own count, which can differ from yours, and your merchant agreement may set stricter limits. Confirm your position with your acquirer.
Sources (checked October 30, 2026): ChargebackHelp — "How Chargebacks Affect Your Merchant Account" (published October 27, 2026): escalation ladder (rolling reserves, fund holds / delayed payouts, higher rates, VAMP / ECP placement, termination in the most severe cases), trend-watching by acquirers, MATCH list maintained by Mastercard with listings typically remaining five years, FAQ "How many chargebacks are too many?" ("It depends on the card network, your acquirer, and your industry… many acquirers apply stricter internal limits of their own"), and winning representment generally not removing a chargeback from the ratio; this site's vamp-threshold-checker.html (VAMP 1.5% / 1,500 since April 1, 2026, 2.2% CEMEA — no mismatch) and mastercard-ecm-hecm-checker.html (ECM 1.5% / 100, HECM 3.0% / 300, three-clean-month exit — no mismatch); Checkout.com — VAMP update (April 1, 2026 merchant Excessive table: 1.5% outside MENA with more than 1,500 events; MENA more than 100 events and over USD 75,000); Chargeflow — VAMP 2026 guide (1.5% / 1,500; CEMEA 2.2% / 150 events / USD 75,000) and Stripe chargebacks guide (0.75% as a rule of thumb, not a network or Stripe threshold); Chargeback.io — Stripe chargeback-rate guide (Stripe publishes no chargeback rate limit of its own); Chargebacks911 — MATCH guide (blacklisted for five years) and this site's guides/chargeback-ratio-explained.html (MATCH, five years). Network rulebooks are not public; figures are as published in network program guides as summarised by these sources, and can change. No processor fee, fine or phone numbers are stated on this page: the binding figures sit in your merchant agreement.
General information only — not legal or financial advice. Whether a threshold is crossed or an account is closed 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 and reports a risk band, never a prediction. Never enter a card number, account number or merchant ID into any checker — no genuine risk check needs them.
Chargeback Clock