Mastercard Excessive Chargeback Program (ECP): 2026 Merchant Guide

Mastercard's chargeback monitoring programs flag merchant IDs whose disputes or fraud losses cross fixed monthly limits, then assess fines through your acquirer. There are two: the Excessive Chargeback Program (ECP), which watches overall chargeback count and ratio, and the Excessive Fraud Merchant (EFM) program, which watches fraud-coded chargebacks on card-not-present sales.

The stakes keep rising. Mastercard's chargeback cost research, conducted by Datos Insights and updated in June 2026, projects global chargeback costs rising from $36.9 billion in 2026 to $46.1 billion in 2029. Mastercard has also added a scam-merchant program, enforced since July 24, 2026, and a combined fraud-and-dispute framework due April 1, 2027, both covered below. For wider numbers, see our chargeback statistics guide.

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Comprendre le programme de surveillance des rétrofacturations Mastercard

Mastercard established the Acquirer Chargeback Monitoring Program (ACMP) under its Global Compliance Programs to track each merchant ID's monthly chargeback count and ratio. Merchants stay compliant by keeping their count or ratio below Mastercard's published chargeback thresholds, and Mastercard's stated aim is to preserve the integrity of the payment system. Both programs count chargebacks, the reversals a cardholder's bank files after a card payment; what is a chargeback covers the mechanics.

Mastercard's global compliance programs page lists four programs: Business Risk Assessment and Mitigation (BRAM), ECP, EFM and the Questionable Merchant Audit Program (QMAP). This guide covers ECP and EFM in depth, then the newer SMMP and GMAP rules.

Each program carries consequences for merchants and their payment service providers. If you also accept Visa, the equivalent is the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP), which counts fraud reports and disputes together and flags a merchant as Excessive at a 1.5% ratio (effective April 2026); Visa's chargeback dispute rules and time limits sit alongside it.

1) Programme de rétrofacturation excessive (ECP)

Mastercard's Excessive Chargeback Program (ECP) is a regulatory instrument that monitors disputes based on a  Merchant Identification Number (MID). Mastercard calculates chargeback threshold using network-wide chargeback data from all transaction types, including card-present and card-not-present sales, to track chargebacks.

Mastercard monitors chargeback counts and the calculated basis points, then alerts the acquirer when any MID passes the compliance threshold. The acquirer forwards a notice to the merchant; chargeback threshold limits and monitoring notices shows what those look like.

Formule ECP

Mastercard determines a merchant's ECP basis point or chargeback rate using the formula below:

• Taux de rétrofacturation : The number of chargebacks received in the current month divided by the total transactions processed in the previous month, multiplied by 100.
  1. ‍Example: 150 first presentment chargebacks in July ÷ 7,500 transactions in June x 100 = 2% Chargeback Rate.

• Point de base de rétrofacturation: First presentment chargebacks in a calendar month divided by the number of Mastercard transactions processed in the preceding month, multiplied by 10,000.
  1. ‍Example: 150 first presentment chargebacks in July ÷ 7,500 transactions in June x 10,000 = 200 Basis Points.

Why the prior month's sales matter: the denominator is last month's Mastercard sales, so a sales dip raises your ratio even when disputes stay flat. 130 chargebacks against 12,000 June sales is 1.08% and stays below the ECM line, but the same 130 chargebacks after a slow month of 8,000 sales is 1.63% (about 163 basis points) and crosses it, because the count is already above 100. Only first-presentment chargebacks count. According to J.P. Morgan's Mastercard ECM FAQ, represented chargebacks are not used to recalculate thresholds or assessments, so winning a dispute afterward does not lower the count.

Mastercard sets two levels of excessive chargeback severity from this formula:

a) Commerçant présentant un taux excessif de rétrofacturation (ECM)

Excessive chargeback merchant flags merchants with 100-299 chargebacks and a chargeback-to-transaction ratio of 1.5%-2.99% (150-299 basis points).

Mastercard applies the ECM designation to merchants who stay over the threshold for two months, consecutive or not. A single month over the line may prompt monitoring by your acquirer, but carries no official status or fine.

b) Commerçant présentant un taux élevé de rétrofacturation (HECM)

A merchant is flagged as HECM at 300 or more chargebacks and a 3% or higher ratio in the same month, held for two months (consecutive or not). Acquirers notify merchants of their status and coordinate remediation, and HECM is the more serious tier because fines escalate twice as fast.

Conséquences de l'adhésion au programme « Excessive Chargeback » de Mastercard

Breaching the ECP threshold brings financial and non-financial consequences:

• Monthly assessments: fines start in the second month and grow with each month enrolled (see the fine schedule below).
• Issuer Recovery Assessment: $5 per chargeback above 300 once enrollment reaches month 4.
• Signalement MID: identifiant du commerçant soumis à un contrôle renforcé et à des obligations de déclaration accrues.
• Risque de résiliation par l'acquéreur: les banques résilient souvent les contrats des commerçants qui dépassent les limites fixées.
• Probabilité de figuration sur la liste MATCH: forte probabilité d'une interdiction de traitement à l'échelle du secteur pour les commerçants présentant des écarts excessifs.

Demandes de prolongation du programme de Mastercard relatif aux rétrofacturations excessives

Merchants facing ECM or HECM designation can ask their acquirer to request a six-month extension from Mastercard, which holds fine collection while you put chargeback reduction in place and keeps you processing.

The caveats:

• Your ECM or HECM status stays active, and fines keep accruing in the background for every month you exceed thresholds.
• Extensions pause fine assessment, not acquirer risk actions such as holds, reserves and volume caps.

At expiry Mastercard re-evaluates your performance. If you are back below the ECM threshold, the held fines are waived; if not, you owe the full accrued amount at once. For an ECM merchant whose extension covers enrollment months 7 to 12, that is $175,000 (5 x $25,000 + $50,000); for HECM in the same window it is $350,000 (5 x $50,000 + $100,000). Merchants that fail to reduce chargebacks during the extension face those lump sums.

Programme de remédiation et stratégie de sortie pour les commerçants confrontés à un taux excessif de rétrofacturation

Mastercard exige des commerçants qui adhèrent aux programmes de surveillance des rétrofacturations qu'ils présentent un plan de correction complet. Ce document remplit deux fonctions essentielles :

1) Démontrer votre engagement en matière de conformité

2) Déterminer les modalités de calcul des amendes

Voici les éléments essentiels d'un plan d'action visant à remédier aux problèmes dans le cadre d'un programme de suivi des rétrofacturations Mastercard :

• Présentation de l'activité: Explication claire de vos activités commerciales et de votre profil de transactions.
• Root Cause Analysis: Detailed breakdown of what is driving your ratio, starting from a correct chargeback rate calculation and your reason-code mix.
• Calendrier des améliorations: mesures concrètes mises en œuvre avec leurs dates de déploiement précises.
• Technology Stack: Complete inventory of active fraud prevention and risk management tools for combating chargebacks.

Exiting ECM/HECM status requires sustained improvement: chargeback levels must stay below program thresholds for three consecutive months, and a single month spike resets your exit timeline.

Pro Tip Remediation Success: Strong remediation plans, such as installing chargeback alerts and dispute analytics, don't just help with compliance. They can influence Mastercard's fine assessment decisions and demonstrate a serious commitment to long-term chargeback reduction.

2) Programme relatif aux commerçants ayant commis un nombre excessif de fraudes (EFM)

Mastercard's Excessive Fraud Merchant program is a specialized compliance initiative for card-not-present (CNP) transactions. Unlike broader chargeback monitoring, EFM monitors fraud-related chargebacks from eCommerce transactions at the merchant ID level to maintain Mastercard network integrity.

Formule EFM : point de base de rétrofacturation pour fraude

Mastercard divides the fraud-coded chargebacks received in a month by your Mastercard eCommerce transactions in the preceding month. Only reason codes 4837 (No Cardholder Authorization) and 4863 (Cardholder Does Not Recognize, potential fraud) count toward EFM, according to J.P. Morgan's EFM program guide and EFM FAQ.

Fraud basis points = fraud-related chargebacks in the month ÷ Mastercard eCommerce transactions in the preceding month x 10,000.

1. ‍Exemple: 25 réclamations pour fraude en juillet ÷ 1 200 ventes en juin x 10 000 = 208 points de base de rétrofacturation pour fraude.

Critères de seuil EFM

Regarding Excessive Fraud Merchant threshold, Mastercard's Security Rules and Procedures and the J.P. Morgan EFM guide say a merchant triggers EFM classification if they meet or exceed all four of the following criteria:

1. Number of eCommerce Transactions: At least 1,000 eCommerce transactions from the previous month in clearing.
2. Fraud Chargeback Amount: 50,000 U.S. dollars or higher in fraud-related chargebacks.
3. Fraud Chargeback Basis Points: At least 50 basis points in fraud-related chargebacks (or 0.5% fraud chargeback count to sales count ratio).
4. EMV 3-D Secure (3DS) Utilization: le commerçant est établi dans un pays non réglementé et le pourcentage de son volume de transactions traité via 3DS est inférieur ou égal à 10 % ; ou
   1. Le commerçant est établi dans un pays soumis à une réglementation et le pourcentage de son volume de transactions traité via 3DS est inférieur ou égal à 50 %.

Pro Tip: the 3DS bar depends on where you operate: 10% in the US and Canada, where strong cardholder authentication is not legally required, and 50% in Europe and other regulated markets. 3DS and data-only transactions both count toward that share, so raising either keeps you out of EFM even when the other three criteria are met.

Conséquences pour les commerçants en cas de fraude excessive

Mastercard applies a non-performance assessment once a merchant ID has been identified as an EFM for two months, consecutive or not. EFM fines follow the escalation in the fine schedule below.

• Risques opérationnels et de réputation : l'inscription sur la liste EFM entraîne une surveillance accrue et des restrictions de la part de votre acquéreur, car celui-ci s'expose également à des sanctions financières s'il omet de signaler ou de gérer les problèmes liés à l'EFM.
• Risque lié à l'inscription sur la liste MATCH (Mastercard Alert to Control High-risk Merchants): forte probabilité d'inscription sur le fichier des commerçants résiliés.

Note: Unlike ECM, EFM has only one tier. If a merchant is identified as both an excessive chargeback merchant and an excessive fraud merchant in the same violation month, only the EFM violation will apply for that month.

Demandes de prolongation EFM

Mastercard offre aux acquéreurs la possibilité de demander une prolongation de six mois au nom de leurs commerçants, ce qui suspend le recouvrement des amendes dès l'approbation de la demande. Pendant toute cette période de grâce, les commerçants restent soumis au contrôle du programme EFM, et les pénalités continuent de s'accumuler chaque mois en cas de dépassement des seuils. Les amendes accumulées restent suspendues jusqu'à l'expiration de la prolongation.

Upon extension expiration, Mastercard evaluates merchant performance against EFM thresholds. Merchants that have reduced their fraud ratio receive complete fine forgiveness for the entire extension period, while merchants still exceeding thresholds face immediate assessment of all accumulated penalties from the extension period.

Programme de remédiation et stratégie de sortie pour les commerçants présentant un taux de fraude excessif

Mastercard exige des commerçants désignés dans le cadre du programme « Excessive Fraud Merchant Program » qu'ils soumettent un plan d'action complet visant à remédier à la situation. Ce document stratégique témoigne de votre engagement en faveur de la réduction de la fraude et pourrait influencer le montant des pénalités infligées lors du processus d'examen.

Vous trouverez ci-dessous les éléments essentiels d'un plan d'action visant à remédier aux problèmes liés au programme Mastercard destiné aux commerçants confrontés à une fraude excessive :

• Profil du commerçant: aperçu complet des opérations et caractéristiques des transactions.
• Analyse de la fraude: examen approfondi des facteurs contribuant à l'augmentation des taux de fraude.
• Plan d'action pour la prévention: liste exhaustive des mesures de prévention de la fraude mises en œuvre, assortie d'un calendrier de déploiement précis.
• Infrastructure technologique: un inventaire complet des systèmes actifs de détection et de prévention de la fraude.

Merchants must keep their fraud metric below program thresholds for three consecutive months before Mastercard closes the audit. If the same merchant ID is flagged again after closure, assessments restart at month 1.

Cela dit, afin de faciliter la sortie et de garantir le respect des exigences de l'EFM :

• Implement robust fraud prevention, such as full 3DS authentication or data-only transactions (which share insights with issuers without full authentication).
• Surveillez de près les indicateurs de fraude, car le programme ne se réinitialise qu'à l'issue de la période de conformité de trois mois.
• Enroll in pre-chargeback alerts to refund high-risk transactions before they turn into fraud-related chargebacks.
• Pour les inscriptions MATCH liées à l'EFM, il n'existe pas de procédure de radiation explicitement fondée sur la mise en conformité. Toutefois, ces inscriptions expirent au bout de cinq ans.

Programme de lutte contre les rétrofacturations excessives vs commerçants auteurs de fraudes excessives

Mastercard designed both ECP and EFM to maintain network integrity by monitoring and penalizing merchants with high-risk activity. EFM specifically targets fraud in eCommerce environments, while ECP addresses overall chargeback volumes across all transaction types.

Side-by-side comparison, current as of October 2026:

Mastercard ECP and EFM Fine Schedule by Month

Assessments rise the longer a merchant ID stays enrolled. The schedule below is the one Mastercard publishes to acquirers, in US dollars, with running totals for a merchant that stays enrolled.

On top of these amounts, Mastercard's ECP guide adds an Issuer Recovery Assessment of $5 per chargeback above 300 once enrollment reaches month 4. Sources: Mastercard's ECP guide and EFM guide (December 2019, effective 2020) as distributed by J.P. Morgan Payments, and Braintree for the current ECP schedule. Running totals are the sum of the monthly figures and exclude the Issuer Recovery Assessment.

Stratégies proactives pour éviter l'inscription aux programmes ECP et EFM

Prevention costs far less than remediation, as the fine schedule shows. The steps below, drawn from Mastercard's program guidance, target the causes of excessive chargebacks and fraud before thresholds are reached; chargeback mitigation covers the wider toolkit.

Cadre de prévention des inscriptions à l'ECP

1. Analyze chargeback data, including chargeback reason codes, to uncover attack vectors. Leverage a third party solution, such as Chargeflow, to help address disputes before they turn into chargebacks.
2. Establish a strict authorization strategy, such as velocity monitoring and strong customer authentication (SCA) through Mastercard Identity Check, the 3DS program that replaced Mastercard SecureCode.
3. Implement an efficient risk detection tool with real-time monitoring and reporting functionalities.
4. Review your billing descriptor and consider adding a customer service phone number.
5. If the billing model is a subscription service, increase the frequency by which cardholders are notified of billing or change how you notify cardholders. Make it easy for cardholders to opt-out, downgrade, or cancel.

Cadre de prévention des inscriptions EFM

1. Implement an internal ecommerce fraud prevention tool or leverage a third-party solution that incorporates advanced detection capabilities.
2. Establish a strict authentication strategy, such as using 3DS/Mastercard Identity Check Program, to allow issuers or Mastercard to perform cardholder authentication.
3. Monitor and block suspicious login attempts to prevent account takeover of customer accounts.
4. Analyze chargeback data and fraudulent transaction cancellations to identify fraud attack loopholes.

SMMP and GMAP: Mastercard's Newer Monitoring Rules

Scam Merchant Monitoring Program (SMMP), enforced since July 24, 2026

Mastercard's Scam Merchant Monitoring Program (SMMP) runs independently of your chargeback and fraud ratios. It flags merchants for suspected scam or mule-like activity, for example a combined refund-and-chargeback rate above 5% of transactions in a rolling 30-day window (applied to merchants with at least 500 transactions and under six months of processing history), or a sudden drop in authorization approval rates. A merchant can clear ECP and EFM cleanly and still be investigated under SMMP, and confirmed cases can lose processing immediately, with no fines and no remediation window.

Global Merchant Audit Program (GMAP), due April 1, 2027

Mastercard GMAP (Global Merchant Audit Program) is scheduled to replace ACMP on April 1, 2027. Mastercard has not published the bulletin publicly, so these details come from acquirer and provider summaries such as payabl: GMAP combines confirmed fraud, including fraud that never becomes a chargeback, with non-fraud disputes into one assessment; EFM, ECM and HECM carry forward; new High Dispute Merchant and Excessive Dispute Merchant tiers target small merchants with extreme ratios; and the ECM ratio floor tightens in steps while the 100-chargeback minimum stays.

HECM stays at 300 basis points. A merchant holding steady at a 1.2% ratio with 100 or more chargebacks a month is outside ECM today and in 2029, but inside it in 2030, when the floor drops to 1.1%. Confirm the final rules with your acquirer before planning around these dates.

Case Study: How Elementor Cut Dispute Handling Time by 90%

Elementor, a leading web development platform, recently faced significant challenges in chargeback management. The company's billing team spent 20-30 minutes on each chargeback, manually gathering evidence and uploading through Stripe or PayPal, creating delays and backlogs.

After attempting to build native software to fix the issue, which didn't yield the intended result, the team integrated Chargeflow's automated platform. Chargeflow instantly streamlined evidence collection, submissions, and signal collection with a plug-and-play process, which takes only minutes to implement, compared to weeks or months with other providers.

Résultats :

Lisez l'étude de cas dans son intégralité.

How Chargeflow Products Map to Mastercard's Programs

Disputes from AI shopping agents land in the same ratio, so see AI agent chargeback liability and Agentic commerce chargebacks for who absorbs them.

Foire aux questions

What is Mastercard's Excessive Chargeback Program (ECP)?

ECP is Mastercard's program for monitoring chargeback count and ratio at the merchant ID level across all transaction types. A merchant is flagged as Excessive Chargeback Merchant (ECM) at 100-299 chargebacks and a 1.5%-2.99% ratio, or as High Excessive Chargeback Merchant (HECM) at 300 or more chargebacks and a ratio of 3% or higher, and fines begin once the merchant has been over the line for two months.

Quels sont les critères qui déterminent l'attribution du statut « Excessive Fraud Merchant » (EFM) par Mastercard ?

EFM status is triggered when a merchant meets all four criteria in the same month: at least 1,000 eCommerce transactions, at least $50,000 in fraud chargebacks (reason codes 4837 and 4863), a fraud ratio of at least 50 basis points, and 3DS use at or below 10% in the US and Canada or 50% in Europe.

How is the Mastercard chargeback ratio calculated?

Mastercard divides first-presentment chargebacks received in the current month by the Mastercard transactions processed in the previous month, then multiplies by 100 for a percentage or by 10,000 for basis points. For example, 150 chargebacks in July against 7,500 transactions in June is a 2% ratio, or 200 basis points.

Does winning a chargeback dispute lower my ECM ratio?

No. Mastercard counts first-presentment chargebacks, and represented chargebacks are not used to recalculate thresholds or assessments. Winning a dispute recovers the revenue, but only preventing the chargeback from posting, through pre-chargeback alerts, order screening and 3DS, reduces the count.

Comment les commerçants peuvent-ils contourner les programmes de surveillance des rétrofacturations de Mastercard ?

Avoidance comes down to prevention: analyze chargeback reason codes to find attack vectors, enforce strong customer authentication (3DS or Mastercard Identity Check) on card-not-present sales, deploy real-time fraud and dispute monitoring, and resolve disputes before they escalate into chargebacks. Merchants already close to a threshold should open forbearance discussions with their acquirer and prepare remediation documentation early.

What is Mastercard GMAP and does it replace ECP?

The Global Merchant Audit Program (GMAP) is scheduled to replace Mastercard's Acquirer Chargeback Monitoring Program on April 1, 2027. According to acquirer and provider summaries, ECM, HECM and EFM carry forward inside a single fraud-and-dispute assessment, and the ECM ratio floor falls from 1.5% to 1.3% in 2029, 1.1% in 2030 and 0.9% in 2031.

Le programme BRAM de Mastercard est-il identique à l'ECM ou à l'EFM ?

No. BRAM (Business Risk Assessment and Mitigation) screens merchants and their business models for brand and reputational risk at onboarding and during ongoing monitoring, separate from the transaction-level chargeback and fraud thresholds that drive ECM, HECM and EFM. Mastercard's global compliance programs page lists BRAM, ECP, EFM and the Questionable Merchant Audit Program (QMAP) as separate programs, so a merchant can be compliant with one and flagged under another.

Que se passe-t-il si mon entreprise est signalée dans le cadre du programme de surveillance de Mastercard ?

Your acquirer is notified and must coordinate a remediation plan with you. Depending on the tier, you face monthly fines from $1,000 up to $200,000 for HECM, along with MID flagging and, in severe cases, a MATCH listing that can affect your ability to process cards elsewhere. Exiting the program requires staying below the threshold for three consecutive months.

Your Next Move: Compliant, Approaching, or Already Enrolled

The difference between merchants who stay in good standing and those facing processing termination usually comes down to early intervention, systematic prevention and the right technology. Here is an action plan for each stage on the risk ladder:

Conforme :

• Suivez les ratios mensuels pour éviter les mauvaises surprises.
• Raise 3DS or data-only coverage on CNP transactions, since low 3DS use is one of the four EFM criteria.
• Mettez en place un système de détection des fraudes en temps réel grâce à des fonctionnalités d'apprentissage automatique.
• Establish a chargeback alert service for dispute prevention and proactive, intentional refund. Before enrolling, work out the cost of chargeback alerts per resolved dispute and how alerts shift your ECM ratio.

Se rapprocher des seuils :

• Analyser les données relatives aux rétrofacturations afin d'identifier les motifs et les vecteurs d'attaque.
• Demandez à votre acquéreur d'envisager un report de paiement avant de vous inscrire officiellement.
• Mettre en place des mesures d'atténuation d'urgence, notamment des filtres anti-fraude renforcés, des remboursements proactifs, etc.
• Préparez dès maintenant une documentation complète relative aux mesures correctives, et non après l'inscription au programme.

Déjà inscrit :

Votre calendrier est essentiel. Concentrez-vous sur ces mesures prioritaires :

• Mettez en place un outil automatisé de gestion des rétrofacturations (tel que Chargeflow) pour prévenir et résoudre rapidement et de manière fiable les litiges.
• Améliorer les points de contact avec la clientèle et les descriptions de facturation.
• Mettre en place un système avancé d'évaluation des risques de fraude et l'authentification 3DS.

If you are approaching a threshold or already enrolled, talk to our team about remediation. Contact us if you need help getting started.