Found Review

Pros

• No minimum balance requirements
• Unlimited transactions
• Free built-in expense tracking, invoicing, & basic tax support
• Freelance-specific tools & features
• Unlimited free ACH transfers

Cons

• No traditional savings account
• APY is only available on paid plans
• Some features only available on paid plans

What Is Found?

Found is a financial technology company aimed specifically at freelancers and self-employed individuals. Found stands out with minimal fees and built-in “smart banking” that helps with expense tracking, basic bookkeeping, and taxes.

Found’s freelance-specific features are especially compelling. This includes auto-categorizing tax deductions and automatic savings for self-employment taxes. While the company only offers a checking account, APY is competitive compared to many business checking accounts, and the freelance-specific features make Found a top choice on our best bank accounts for freelancers list.

Found is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by Lead Bank, Member FDIC. The Found Mastercard Business debit card is issued by Lead Bank pursuant to a license from Mastercard Inc.

Services Offered By Found

Found offers business checking accounts.

Traditional savings accounts are not available. However, Found does offer up to 10 free sub-accounts called Pockets that can be used to organize and save funds.

It’s also worth noting that while the free checking account includes some basic bookkeeping features, a subscription to one of Found’s paid plans is required to access all features.

Found Rewards & Perks

Found has unique bookkeeping and tax features designed to help freelancers manage their expenses, invoices, and taxes with ease.

In terms of traditional features, you won’t find quite as many perks with Found as you would with other business checking accounts like Bluevine Checking or Axos. Found does offer up to 2.5% APY with its paid plans.

Found also does not have any welcome bonus offers for new customers.

Overall, Found’s rewards are a plus if you want or need its freelance-specific features. If you don’t want the freelance features or are looking specifically to maximize your checking account rewards, alternative fintechs or banks might be a better fit.

Found Fees

You can open a Found account for free, or there are two paid options available.

Upgrading to Found Plus lets you earn APY on balances, import transactions, and access priority support. Found Pro increases APY and gives you 1% cash back on debit card purchases, a dedicated account manager, and other features.

A 30-day free trial is available for paid plans.

Found has very few fees, and the company is relatively transparent about its fee schedule.

The Found free plan offers business checking with an impressive number of free features, including:

• Expense tracking
• Customizable invoicing
• Team debit cards with spending controls
• Basic tax support
• Up to 10 sub-accounts

Found uses Stripe for payment processing. If you use the invoicing feature to accept customer payments, you’ll be charged for payment processing.

Found Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for a Found account, you have to be the sole owner of your business, even if you have your business set up as an LLC. Freelancers and self-employed individuals can use Found regardless of their business structure, as long as they are the sole owner.

You’ll also need an SSN and will need to use your legal name for setting up your account. Opening a Found account does not affect your credit score.

Found Application Process

To sign up for a Found account, you’ll need your legal name, address, SSN, and date of birth, plus basic income and tax filing information. You can then sign up for Found from the mobile app or your desktop. Found will walk you through the signup process step by step.

Once you open your Found account, you’ll get a routing number and account number and can start requesting virtual and/or physical cards.

Unfortunately, Found is not completely transparent about the application process upfront, and also does not disclose application processing times.

Found Features

Found offers a strong set of features for freelancers to manage expenses, invoices, and taxes directly from a desktop or the Found mobile app. The free plan includes a strong set of invoicing and bookkeeping tools.

Some of the checking features are limited on the free plan, but the benefit of built-in bookkeeping and tax support may be more than worth it for freelancers looking to manage their self-employed finances in one spot.

Found Checking

• Physical & virtual debit cards
• Pockets to organize funds
• FDIC insurance up to $250k
• Cash deposits
• Mobile check deposits
• Incoming wire transfers
• Unlimited ACH transfers
• Found mobile app
• Payment integrations
• Link card to Apple Pay or Google Pay

Found Bookkeeping & Tax Support

For all Found accounts, you’ll find these tax and bookkeeping benefits:

• Expense management
• Automatic expense categorization
• Customizable invoicing
• Accepting invoice payments from customers’ bank accounts, Cash App, PayPal, Zelle, or Venmo accounts
• Saving items & invoices
• Saving customer information
• Scheduling recurring invoices
• Automatic payment reminders
• Auto-savings for taxes
• Tax estimates
• Tax deduction tracking
• Reporting
• Accounting integrations
• Automatic receipt capture

If you opt for the Found Plus account, you’ll also get access to these features:

• Custom expense categorization rules, categories, & tags
• Bank, credit card, Venmo, & PayPal activity importing
• APY on balances up to $20,000
• Priority phone support

If you upgrade to Found Pro, you’ll add:

• Higher APY
• Cash-back on debit card purchases
• Send unlimited checks at no cost
• Discounted wire transfer fees
• Dedicated account manager

Transaction Limits

Found’s transaction limits are as follows:

While Found has “unlimited” transactions, there is a card purchase and transfer limit of $4,000. For a freelancer, this limit might not be a dealbreaker, but for self-employed individuals needing a larger purchase maximum, this could be a problem.

Found does allow you to request limit increases.

Transaction Processing Times

Payments from one Found holder to another are instant and don’t cost anything.

Found Sales & Advertising Transparency

Found provides plenty of information on its website to give prospective customers an idea of what to expect after signing up for an account. In addition to its website, Found is also active on social media and provides plenty of useful information for current and prospective account holders.

There is a lack of transparency in some areas, such as the application process, application processing timeline, and eligibility requirements. Overall, the company is fairly transparent and provides plenty of information without misleading advertising or spam.

Found Customer Service

Found has a detailed Help Center that answers many FAQs about getting started with and using Found. When you need to talk to a customer support rep, there are several avenues available.

Existing customers report overwhelmingly positive customer service experiences. Found Plus users get priority customer support, which means shorter phone wait times.

Found doesn’t have extended support hours, and there are no dedicated account reps available.

Found Reviews

While Found was only founded in 2019, the company has already gained a loyal following and a large number of happy customers based on its reviews.

Found receives 4.6/5 stars on Trustpilot. Found also receives 4.6/5 stars on the Google Play Store based on 17,000+ ratings and 4.8/5 on the Apple Store based on 30,000+ ratings.

Negative Found Reviews & Complaints

• A couple of reports of freezing accounts with money still in them
• One report where Found wouldn’t refund an unauthorized transaction

Positive Found Reviews

• Great mobile app
• Easy to use
• Simple setup process
• Freelance-specific tax tools & features
• The convenience of having everything in one place

Is Found Safe?

Found uses industry-standard security methods, including data encryption and two-factor authentication. Found also has 24/7 fraud monitoring.

Found is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by Lead Bank, Member FDIC. The funds in your account are FDIC-insured up to $250,000 per depositor for each account ownership category. FDIC insurance only covers the failure of an FDIC-insured depository institution.

The Found Mastercard Business debit card is issued by Lead Bank pursuant to a license from Mastercard Inc.

How Does Found Compare To Other Alternatives?

While Found’s checking features aren’t quite as built out as those of other competitors, the company’s freelance-specific features make Found stand out.

We would like to see lower pricing for APY eligibility, but it’s worth noting that the Found monthly subscription may be tax-deductible as a business expense.

The Bottom Line: Is Found Worth It?

For freelancers, Found is worth looking into. Found’s built-in bookkeeping and tax support is a major advantage and makes tracking expenses, taking deductions, and filing self-employed taxes much easier. Found is great for freelancers, sole proprietors, and micro-businesses.

For small business owners, you’ll likely find better rewards checking options elsewhere.

For self-employed individuals who are looking to grow their business, Found might also not be the best fit, as it won’t scale alongside your business. Check out our top online business bank accounts to see all of your best banking options.