Intuit plans to offer its GoPayment mobile payment service with a free credit card reader and no monthly service fees to business owners who sign up by mid-February.

“By offering a free card reader and no monthly service fees, we want to give more small businesses a head start in the New Year by enabling them to take mobile payments without any upfront investment,” said Chris Hylen, general manager of Intuit’s Payment Solutions division. “And this is just the beginning. We’ll introduce new ways all year long to help more small businesses get paid quickly and inexpensively using their favorite mobile devices.”

GoPayment is compatible with more than 40 popular mobile handsets and a range of credit card readers. This includes a free credit card reader from ROAM Data, which works on a variety of iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices, to make it easier for the cost-conscious new business owner to start taking mobile payments. There are also other robust, professional readers, including the new, sleek, form-fitting mophie credit card reader for the iPhone 4, for established businesses with higher processing volume. A list of supported devices is available at: www.gopayment.com.

Since GoPayment launched nearly two years ago, small businesses have processed nearly $80 million in mobile payments using the solution. And the mobile payments market is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.

“We expect the point-of-sale mobile payments market in the U.S. to grow to $55 billion by 2015, up from an estimated $1 billion in 2010,” said Gwenn Bézard of Aite Group. “Intuit is among the best-positioned providers to lead that market, because of its existing presence in acquiring, its accounting and personal finance solutions, and its trusted brand.”

Using GoPayment and a supported credit card reader, users can swipe and process credit cards within seconds instead of entering card data manually. Funds are then deposited into their bank account typically within two to three business days.

“GoPayment gets small business owners paid fast,” added Hylen. “We don’t have any arbitrary transaction caps that delay users from getting their money. Plus, we’re always there if you need us and have people available 24/7 to answer your questions so you don’t lose a sale.”

To save more time when processing payments, GoPayment includes customer-requested features such as the ability to create and sell from a list of frequently sold items, apply sales tax and send customized receipts via text and e-mail with a map of where the transaction took place.

For the more than 4 million small businesses that use QuickBooks, GoPayment can also sync transactions with recent versions of QuickBooks – both PC and Mac – to save time by reducing manual data entry.

The solution protects customer data throughout the payment process. Sensitive credit card data is never stored on the phone. In addition, card data is double encrypted – once via card reader and a second time via the GoPayment app.

GoPayment offers different discount rates and pricing plans depending on a business’s processing needs. Businesses that sign up for GoPayment before mid-February can get a free credit card reader while supplies last and choose one of the following pricing plans:

For lower or intermittent credit card processing volume:

• No monthly service fee for businesses that sign up before mid-February; Discount rates: 2.7 percent for card swiped; 3.7 percent for both key entered and non-qualified transactions; $0.15 per transaction.

For higher credit card processing volume:

• $12.95 monthly service fee; Discount rates: 1.7 percent for card swiped; 2.7 percent for key entered; and 3.7 percent for non-qualified transactions, such as corporate cards; $0.30 per transaction.

GoPayment has no long-term contracts, cancellation, gateway or set-up fees, and one account can enable up to 50 users. To receive the free offer, businesses must be a new Intuit Merchant Service customer and approved for an Intuit merchant account. Terms, conditions, pricing, features, service and support are also subject to change without notice.

More information: www.GoPayment.com.