@Elizafox also (at least in the UK) you can do a maximum of 3 transactions via contactless per day on the same card, each no more than £29.99 in value. They also take slightly longer to come out of the bank than chip & pin transactions, and thus if your card gets stolen, get to a payphone or use your own phone, report it stolen, and bam, card locked, and any transactions they made, you don't get charged for. so it's safer than it seems!