Summary: RFID protection works technically, but the risk it protects against is extremely small in the Netherlands. Don’t let it be a deciding factor when choosing a wallet or card holder.
What RFID is
RFID stands for radio-frequency identification. Your contactless bank card contains a small chip with an antenna. When you hold it near a payment terminal, the terminal activates the chip with a radio signal and they exchange data. The card has no battery: all the energy comes from the terminal.
The presumed threat is called skimming: someone walks past your pocket with a hidden reader, activates your card remotely, and reads its data. An RFID-blocking wallet contains a layer of metal that works as a Faraday cage and blocks that signal.
The technology works
That part is not disputed. Properly designed shielding blocks the signal. You can test it yourself: put your card in the wallet and try to make a contactless payment. If the payment doesn’t work, the shielding is doing its job.
Why the risk is small
The range is minimal. Contactless payments work over a few centimeters. Reading a card remotely requires equipment with a large antenna, which someone cannot discreetly carry through a shopping street.
There is little useful information to read. Modern payment cards do not transmit a name, a CVV code, or a static number that can simply be reused. Each transaction uses a unique code that is valid only once.
There is a limit. Contactless payments are capped per transaction, and after a number of consecutive payments, the terminal will still ask for a PIN.
You are protected. Banks reimburse losses caused by fraud for which you are not at fault. In practice, the financial risk does not lie with you.
It rarely happens. There are hardly any documented cases of actual contactless skimming fraud in the Netherlands. Fraud almost always occurs through phishing, malware, or tricking people into giving up their PINs—not through a reader in a jacket pocket.
Why it is mentioned everywhere anyway
RFID protection is inexpensive to add and easy to sell. It plays on an intuitively understandable fear, and it sounds like added value without the buyer being able to verify whether it solves anything.
That does not make it dishonest, but it does make it a weak reason to choose a wallet. Comparable to the term premium leather, which also mainly provides reassurance without guaranteeing anything. See What is premium leather?.
When it can make sense
- Office access cards. These often use older, less secure protocols and are easier to clone than a payment card.
- Passports with chips. When traveling outside Europe, some people deliberately choose a shielded document sleeve.
- Interference between cards. Two contactless cards next to each other can confuse a terminal. Shielding between the compartments solves that problem. This is actually the most practical application.
What you should weigh instead
When choosing a wallet or card holder, other factors determine whether you will still be happy with it five years from now.
- The quality and thickness of the leather, because its lifespan depends on them
- The finishing of the compartment edges, where wear begins
- Whether it is stitched or only glued
- Whether the size suits the number of cards you actually use
We cover these points in Buying a leather card holder and Buying a leather wallet.
Our position
We do not build metal foil into our small leather goods. Not because we downplay the risk, but because an extra layer of foil makes the wallet thicker and stiffer, and because full-grain leather derives its value from how it ages—not from what is hidden between its layers.
If you still want the protection, you can place a separate RFID sleeve costing a few euros in the compartment. It works just as well and leaves you free to choose your wallet.
