What TC40 is
When a cardholder tells their issuing bank that a Visa transaction was unauthorized, the bank can send Visa a TC40 fraud report. The report records the claim and transaction details. It is not a chargeback, and a TC40 can exist even when the claim does not become a formal dispute.
A TC40 does not itself reverse a sale or deduct the transaction amount from your settlement. Its importance is the fraud signal it sends to Visa and the acquiring side of your payment account. That signal can matter even when your chargeback count looks low.
A TC40 can count toward Visa fraud monitoring even when it never becomes a chargeback.
How TC40 affects your Visa risk
Visa's Acquirer Monitoring Program, or VAMP, counts TC40 fraud reports alongside TC15 disputes in its ratio for card-not-present transactions. The calculation is TC40 reports plus TC15 disputes, divided by settled card-not-present transactions. A fraud report that never becomes a chargeback can therefore still affect your VAMP result.
As of April 1, 2026, the US VAMP Excessive threshold is a 1.5% ratio, or 150 basis points, with at least 1,500 fraud reports plus disputes in a month. Reaching the threshold can put your merchant activity into a monitoring program, creating added scrutiny for your business and its acquiring bank.
Finding TC40 reports
TC40 is a fraud report, not a standard merchant statement fee line. You may not see the report in your normal sales or chargeback dashboard. Ask for a Visa TC40 report or fraud-report detail, then compare each reported transaction with your order, fulfillment, refund and customer-service records.
Match reports by transaction date, amount and card details where available. Look for repeated claims tied to one product, sales channel, billing pattern or fulfillment problem. A cluster can show a preventable issue even if no single report appears costly on its own.
What to do when a report appears
A TC40 is not a chargeback response request, so it does not give you a dispute deadline to meet. It is still a prompt to investigate the reported sale. If the order was unauthorized, improve the controls that allowed it through; if the buyer may have mistaken the charge, make your billing descriptor and purchase communications clearer.
Do not count only formal chargebacks when you assess fraud exposure. Compare TC40 reports and disputes against settled card-not-present volume each month, since those are the inputs to the VAMP ratio. Keep a record of the action taken for each recurring cause.
What you can actually change
You cannot remove a valid report from Visa's fraud records by disputing it as though it were a chargeback. You can reduce future reports by finding the transaction patterns behind them and acting before the next batch of claims.
- Request TC40 report detail from your acquirer or processor and review it alongside your chargebacks.
- Track the monthly VAMP numerator and settled card-not-present transaction denominator.
- Tighten fraud screening for the products, channels or order patterns linked to reported transactions.
- Improve billing descriptors, order confirmations and refund handling when customer confusion is driving fraud claims.
- Request report detail. Ask your acquirer or processor for Visa TC40 data and the transaction information needed to investigate each report.
- Measure the monthly ratio. Compare TC40 reports plus TC15 disputes with settled card-not-present transactions to track your VAMP exposure.
- Fix repeat causes. Use the transactions in your report to target fraud controls, customer communications or fulfillment changes.
Frequently asked questions
Is a TC40 the same as a chargeback?
No. A TC40 is a Visa fraud report generated after an issuing bank receives a cardholder's claim of an unauthorized transaction. It does not itself reverse the sale, and the claim does not have to become a formal chargeback.
Can TC40 reports affect my VAMP ratio?
Yes. Visa's VAMP ratio includes TC40 fraud reports and TC15 disputes, divided by settled card-not-present transactions. As of April 1, 2026, the US Excessive threshold is 1.5% with at least 1,500 fraud reports plus disputes in a month.
Where can I see my TC40 reports?
TC40 reports are not standard merchant statement fee lines, and your usual sales or chargeback dashboard may not show them. Request Visa fraud-report detail from your acquirer or processor, then match the transactions to your sales and fulfillment records.