Have you ever needed an ATM and not known where to find one? For tourists and businesspeople traveling far from home, that is an all-too-familiar predicament. But a new cell phone service from MasterCard now promises to make such situations a thing of the past.

MasterCard now provides cardholders with a mobile, location-based search and directory service so they can request the location of the nearest ATM be sent to their cell phone via SMS text message.

Customers simply call 1-877-FIND-ATM, and state their coordinates to request the location of the nearest MasterCard ATM. They can then choose to have a text message sent to their cell phone detailing the location of the nearest teller. The new service, which works will all major mobile carriers in the U.S. is provided by MasterCard to cardholders free of charge (carrier text message rates may apply).

Each year, two million cardholders contact MasterCard via either telephone or the website (www.mastercard.com/atmlocator) specifically to find the location of nearby ATMs; some 70 percent of inquiries are received from international travelers venturing outside their home country.

“MasterCard’s new SMS option for ATM Locator provides an invaluable service to cardholders,” said Jonathan Cetnarski, senior vice president, Information Products and Services at MasterCard Advisors. “People don’t always have a pen or paper handy to write the ATM locations down, so SMS becomes an intuitive and convenient way to get the information they need. Travelers can finally go paperless in confidence.”

MasterCard’s new SMS offering augments the company’s existing telephone- and web-based ATM Locator services, which lists over one million ATM locations worldwide. While these services have proven useful, MasterCard analysis of call data revealed that cardholders were too often scrambling to write down the ATM location during the voice-activated locator service.

The voice-activated ATM Locator application is provided by Convergys Corporation, which built the application for MasterCard. Hosted on Convergys’ SpeechPort platform, incoming calls are received and processed via SpeechPort, which uses a variety of speech recognition technologies to comprehend the caller’s request and play back the appropriate information. SpeechPort then sends the caller’s coordinates to MasterCard, which in turn accesses and provides ATM locations from a central data bank. If callers request an SMS, MasterCard passes the ATM location data to Mobile 365, which then routes the SMS text to the caller’s mobile carrier. Mobile 365 has direct connections into more than 250 of the world’s leading mobile operators.

The Convergys SpeechPort platform offers flexibility and scale to not only handle the millions of inquiries from MasterCard cardholders, but also the seasonal call spikes that the ATM Locator application receives. The platform also provides redundancy, security, and robust monitoring and reporting information to help MasterCard effectively manage the ATM Locator application.

About MasterCard Advisors
MasterCard Advisors, LLC, an affiliate of MasterCard Worldwide, is a global professional services organization offering payments-related consulting, information and outsourcing. Through a worldwide network of expert consultants, MasterCard Advisors offers a depth and breadth of services and customized solutions for helping clients grow and create value from their cards and payments businesses. For more information about MasterCard Advisors, go to www.mastercardadvisors.com.

About MasterCard Worldwide
MasterCard Worldwide advances global commerce by providing a critical economic link between financial institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide. As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes close to 14 billion payments each year, and provides industry-leading analysis and consulting services to financial institution customers and merchants. Through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro® and Cirrus®, MasterCard Worldwide serves consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information go to www.mastercardworldwide.com.

About Convergys
Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) is a global leader in providing customer care, human resources, and billing services, and is a market leader in developing hosted speech applications to improve the customer experience for Fortune 100 companies. Convergys combines specialized knowledge and expertise with solid execution to deliver outsourced solutions, consulting services, and software support. Clients in more than 70 countries speaking nearly 35 languages depend on Convergys to manage the increasing complexity and cost of caring for customers and employees. Convergys serves the world’s leading companies in many industries including communications, financial services, technology, and consumer products. Convergys is a member of the S&P 500 and a Fortune Most Admired Company. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Convergys has more than 65,000 employees in 75 customer contact centers, three data centers, and other facilities in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. For more information visit www.convergys.com (SpeechPort is a trademark and Convergys and the Convergys logo are registered trademarks of Convergys Corporation.)

About Mobile 365
Delivering 3.5 billion messages per month, Mobile 365 leads the world in the global delivery and settlement of mobile messaging and data services, including SMS, MMS, and WAP. With reach to nearly 700 mobile operators around the world, Mobile 365 is at the forefront of mobile interoperability messaging and the distribution of premium content and value-added services. Headquartered outside of Washington, D.C., Mobile 365 has offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Milan, New Delhi, Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, and Taipei. Major operator customers include Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile, Telcel, Orange, Telefonica, O2, China Mobile, China Unicom, Hutchison, and Airtel. Major brand customers include Skype, Volvo, Sony Pictures, MSN, Citibank, Siemens, Ogilvy, Yahoo!, and Dunkin’ Donuts. For more information, visit: www.mobile365.com.