Visa VROL and Mastercom, explained

A plain reference to Visa VROL and Mastercom, the two card network dispute platforms: the dispute stages side by side, allocation and collaboration, pre-arbitration, reason codes and Compelling Evidence 3.0.

Reviewed by Lean Industries · 21 October 2026

What is Visa Resolve Online (VROL)?

Visa Resolve Online (VROL) is Visa's dispute processing platform. Issuers and acquirers use it to raise a dispute, respond to one, exchange documents and move a case through Visa's dispute stages. Inside VROL, Visa's rules send each dispute down one of two flows, allocation or collaboration, depending on its category. In AdjustmentHub, the workflow runs the dispute and each person's part in it, and NetworkHub connects to VROL in real time to submit chargebacks, pre-arbitrations, arbitrations and the other network operations.

What is Mastercom?

Mastercom is Mastercard's dispute resolution platform: chargebacks, second presentments, pre-arbitration and arbitration case filings, compliance cases, retrieval requests, and the document exchange behind them. NetworkHub, the integration layer inside AdjustmentHub, connects to it in real time, for issuers and for acquirers. Mastercom Extended is Mastercard's dispute interface for transactions cleared through its Single Message System, mostly debit, where issuers raise disputes and first chargebacks and acquirers send representments. NetworkHub connects to it as well.

What is the difference between VROL and Mastercom?

VROL is Visa's platform and Mastercom is Mastercard's. Each runs only its own network's disputes, under that network's rules, stage names and reason codes, so an issuer or acquirer that handles both networks works disputes in both.

The dispute stages, Visa and Mastercard side by side

Scroll sideways to see all columns.

Step	Visa, collaboration (processing errors and consumer disputes, categories 12 and 13)	Visa, allocation (fraud and authorization, categories 10 and 11)	Mastercard
1	Dispute, raised by the issuer	Dispute, raised by the issuer	First chargeback, raised by the issuer
2	Dispute response, from the acquirer	Pre-arbitration, from the acquirer	Second presentment, from the acquirer
3	Pre-arbitration, from the issuer	Pre-arbitration response, from the issuer	Pre-arbitration, from the issuer (optional for some dispute types today)
4	Pre-arbitration response, from the acquirer	Arbitration, filed by the acquirer	Arbitration case, filed by the issuer
5	Arbitration, filed by the issuer
A rules violation with no dispute right	Compliance case, after a pre-compliance attempt, by either side	Compliance case, after a pre-compliance attempt, by either side	Compliance case, after pre-compliance, by either side

What is the difference between Visa allocation and collaboration?

In allocation, VROL checks the dispute against Visa's rules when it is raised and moves liability to the acquirer straight away. The acquirer cannot send a dispute response; its only answer is a pre-arbitration on the grounds the dispute condition allows, such as Compelling Evidence 3.0. Collaboration is the flow for processing errors and consumer disputes: the acquirer responds and the two sides work the case through the stages. Both are different from pre-dispute collaboration through Ethoca and Verifi, which happens before a dispute is raised at all and is described on the Partners page. Mastercom also has its own collaboration step before a first chargeback.

What is pre-arbitration in a card dispute?

Pre-arbitration is the last step before a card dispute goes to the network for a ruling. In Visa's collaboration flow, the issuer sends it after a dispute response it does not accept; in the allocation flow, it is the acquirer's answer to the dispute. On Mastercard, the issuer can file it after a second presentment, and for some dispute types can go straight to an arbitration case instead. If the other side does not accept, the case can go to arbitration, where the network decides who is liable. On Visa, the member found responsible pays the disputed amount and Visa's review fee, and liability can be shared.

Chargeback reason codes: Visa and Mastercard

Visa writes its dispute conditions in four categories, 10 fraud, 11 authorization, 12 processing errors and 13 consumer disputes, as codes such as 10.4 (card-absent fraud) and 13.1 (merchandise or services not received). Mastercard uses four-digit reason codes such as 4837 (no cardholder authorization) and 4853 (cardholder dispute); disputes on its Single Message System, mostly debit, use two-digit codes such as 37 and 53. Lean maintains the reason-code mapping in NetworkHub. When a network changes its rules, Lean updates NetworkHub and AdjustmentHub.

Representment and Compelling Evidence 3.0

Representment is the acquirer's answer to a dispute, with evidence: a second presentment on Mastercard; on Visa, a dispute response for processing-error and consumer disputes, or a pre-arbitration for fraud and authorization disputes.

Compelling Evidence 3.0 is Visa's rule, in force since 15 April 2023, for card-absent fraud disputes under condition 10.4. If the merchant shows two earlier transactions on the same card, 120 to 365 days old and never reported as fraud, that match the disputed one on at least two details (from IP address, device ID or fingerprint, login ID and delivery address), one of them the IP address or the device, the dispute is invalid and liability moves back to the issuer. The merchant's acquirer sends this evidence with a pre-arbitration, or the merchant sends it before any dispute through Verifi's Order Insight. Visa's April 2026 rules extend Compelling Evidence 3.0 to multi-merchant transactions from 24 October 2026. An issuer's case record has to hold these details for the pre-arbitration to be assessed.

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