MasterCard Adds Services to Web Site

MasterCard International has broadened the services available through the World Wide Web site it created this spring on the Internet.

Consumers will be able to use MasterCard's home page, called Pointers, to apply for credit cards or seek information about MasterCards from four banks: Barclays Bank in the United Kingdom; First Consumers National Bank, Beaverton, Ore.; First Union National Bank, Charlotte, N.C.; and Wells Fargo Bank, San Francisco.

Each of the banks has been "hyperlinked" to MasterCard's home page, meaning that computer users can get through to those institutions by way of the Pointers service.

Also trying to appeal to Internet subscribers, MasterCard has added a schedule of world soccer competitions through June 1998, including the World Cup in France. MasterCard is a corporate sponsor of those events.

The home page also gives consumers access to conversion rates for 54 of the world's currencies. The rates, obtained from the European Union, are updated daily.

Users can download free software that allows them to perform currency conversions on their personal computers.

In addition, MasterCard has included a hyperlink to TRW Inc. to allow U.S. consumers to find out how they can obtain their personal credit rating.

MasterCard has added three new "buttons" on the first page, to make it easier to navigate Pointers, including Just for Kicks, Up & Coming, and About Pointers.

"The Web gives MasterCard a chance to provide tangible value to our cardholders by offering them information they need or pointing them to places they might not find otherwise," said Anne Hollows, director of global marketing communications.

"For that reason, MasterCard Pointers will continue to evolve as the Internet evolves and as we obtain feedback from users and more experience with this dynamic, interactive medium."

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