Are contactless cards safe and how do contactless payments work?

Contactless payments use Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to communicate between the card and the reader or payment terminal.

To make contactless payments, the card must be held very close to the reader or payment terminal (max. 4 cm). Accidental payments in passing are just as impossible as unwanted multiple bookings, which are excluded by dynamic security codes.

Your data is protected by modern encryption technology. 

When paying contactless the card does not leave your hand, so you are guaranteed not to forget it in any reader.

Of course, you can still pay with your card without the contactless payment function. Simply insert your card into the reader as usual.

Please note that, in accordance with the regulations that came into force on September 14th, 2019, for security reasons, you can only pay contactless 5 times in a row for a maximum of EUR 150 in total. After that, you will have to pay "normally" by inserting your card into a card reader and entering your PIN. You can then pay contactless again.