What's exactly the difference between NFC and RFID? The NFC Forum FAQ isn't very clear.
Here in Portugal (and AFAIK in multiple European countries) we use contactless cards for public transportation, but that's about it; payments are still done with debit cards or cash.
Basically the 'card' is in your phone, which has a battery and a CPU, so it can secure the communication of your identity which is tied to your bank information.
They're basically the same thing with different ranges. NFC has a range of about 4cm, RFID goes up to a couple of metres I think. NFC is generally used when you want to make sure someone gets really close, which is generally the case with payments. You don't want someone able to interact with your credit card from several metres away without you knowing about it.
Here in Portugal (and AFAIK in multiple European countries) we use contactless cards for public transportation, but that's about it; payments are still done with debit cards or cash.