So I did my little experience and tried to spent most of my expenses in the US with bunq's Mastercard. After some initial troubles with the magnetic strip and chip (both without a pin) this was fixed by the bunq team. After that swiping and chipping with no pin worked in most cases.

I have only encountered one issue at a Chevron gas station that rejected my card in all possible ways. No rejected message was displayed, I reported this to bunq support. My ING Mastercard was accepted and to my surprise the terminal did not ask for my pin but CVV code as form of identification.

One other case was a few days ago at a Burgerking. The contactless payment was rejected, in the app the reject was seen but no special reason. After contacting support they noticed a CVV error (whatever that means). This would be an indication of a faulty card and if it happened again they would need to replace my card.

Using your bunq card at gas stations works most of the time, sometimes even at the pump terminal itself. But in most cases you need to walk up to the cashier and request a preauthorisation for a larger sum (I always asked for $70, although my full tank could hold significantly less). After the pumping was done the App immediately changed the charging to the correct amount.

I also tried writing manual tips on the sales slip after the cashier already slided my card. The merchant will add the tip later to the transaction and bunq nicely showed the updated transaction after a day.

I didn't bother paying in hotels as most hotels displayed a big warning about using debit cards and the blocking of money this may cause for a few days. Since we moved to a new hotel about every day I was not keen on having many cash blocks.

So in general: the maestro works. You absolutely need the magnetic strip enabled since this is still very common in shops, pumps and restaurants.

However: bunq sometimes didn't work where my ING card did work. In a few situations I would have a severe problem with no other major card at hand. Since I always travel with at least two major cards (MasterCard and Visa or MC and Amex) this is not a big chance from how I used to travel but still there are some issues regarding acceptance to be fixed.

About the partner card : this is useless. It can't be used for online transactions since my partner doesn't have the rotating CVV code in his app.

Also a payment by my partner in a shop was rejected since the merchant wanted to see his ID. Obviously the name on his ID did not match my name on the partner card. They even questioned whose card it was and he feared it would be taken from him as often happens when a merchant suspects fraud/stolen cards. Bunq needs to rethink the concept of a second card for "partners or family". It just doesn't work, seriously....

But in general I was satisfied with my first initial trip with bunq's Mastercard. Next time I will only bring one alternative major credit card. And I will leave my maestro cards at home. They are simply useless outside the Netherlands.