Contactless payment speeds up the buying process and reduces the risk of your PIN falling into the wrong hands.
You can pay debit purchases using contactless payment, irrespective of the amount. Purchases of over 50 euros have to be confirmed by entering your PIN in the card reader, but you do not need to insert your card in the reader. If your card has a credit feature, in addition to the debit feature, you will always pay with the credit feature by inserting the card in the reader.
If your card only has a credit feature, you can make contactless payment regardless of the amount. You have to confirm purchases of over 50 euros with your PIN.
Random PIN requests in card readers
When you pay for the first time with a card intended for contactless payment, insert the card in the card reader as usual and confirm the payment with your PIN. This simple operation activates your card and enables you to use it for contactless payments.
Later, your PIN will be requested occasionally in order to ensure that you are the card's legitimate holder. You can only make a certain number of consecutive contactless payments after which contactless payment will no longer work. The number of contactless payments is reset and contactless payment works again after having paid your purchases once by inserting the card into the card reader and confirming with your PIN without trying contactless payment first. In such a case, make the payment using the card's debit feature and your PIN.
With a contactless-enabled card, you can also pay conventionally by inserting the card into the card reader and keying in your PIN.
This is how contactless payment works
- Hold the card at a couple of centimetres distance from the card reader. It indicates with a sound or light that the payment was successful.
- You can recognise contactless-enabled card readers and cards from the contactless symbol depicting radio waves.
- Debit purchases of over 50 euros have to be confirmed by entering your PIN in the card reader, but you do not need to insert your card in the reader.
- When paying with the credit feature of a combination card, you always need to insert the card in the card reader.
- If, for security reasons, the card reader requests a PIN, follow the reader's instructions.
- The shop cashier will give you a receipt, as usual.
Why is contactless payment secure?
Contactless payment is based on Near Field Communication (NFC), a short-range wireless connectivity standard. This enables the secure transfer of payment information between a contactless card and card reader when purchases are made. You cannot accidentally pay for someone else's purchases because the card reader informs you of a successful payment transaction with sound or light.
You don't need to worry about copying the card for criminal purposes. Not all information can be read remotely from the card that is needed for making a workable copy of the card. The card should not, of course, use in shops that seems suspicious.