Found Business Checking Review 2023
Tricia has nearly two decades of experience in commercial and federal government lending. Her expertise is highlighted throughout small business loan content on Fit Small Business.
Ricci Recto has two years of writing experience creating digital marketing content for finance clients. She specializes in business banking.
This article is part of a larger series on Business Banking.
The digital banking platform Found is an excellent business checking option for freelancers, self-employed individuals, and sole proprietors looking for affordable digital banking solutions. Aside from having $0 monthly fees, Found offers useful features, such as built-in bookkeeping, invoicing, and tax tools, which can help any solopreneur manage their business on their own. Found doesn’t do credit checks, which makes the account accessible to any type of business owner.
What We Like
- No monthly fees, minimum balance requirement, and initial deposit requirement
- No credit checks
- Free bookkeeping software
What's Missing
- No physical locations
- No cash deposits
- No mobile check deposit
Features
- Free business debit Mastercard
- Online and mobile banking through the Found app; includes automatic expense categorization, customized invoices, and tax write-off tracker
- Free ATM withdrawals (though some ATMs may charge their own fee)
How Found Stacks Up With Its Competitors
Annual Percentage Yield (APY) | Cash Deposit Fee | ATM Fee | Minimum Opening Deposit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Business Checking | None | None; doesn’t accept cash deposits | None* | None |
 Business Checking | None | None; cash must be deposited through money orders | Refunds all ATM fees | None |
 Business Checking | None | $4.95 per transaction via Green Dot retail locations | None at MoneyPass locations; $2.50 for nonnetwork usage* | None |
*Third-party operator fees may apply.
**Providers are financial technology (fintech) platforms backed and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC)-insured by a supporting bank partnership (Piermont Bank for Found; Middlesex Federal Savings for Novo; and Choice Financial Group for Lili).
When Found Is a Good Fit
- You’re comfortable with banking exclusively online: There are no brick-and-mortar Found branches.
- You want to bank without monthly fees: The Found business checking account doesn’t have monthly fees, minimum opening deposit requirements, or minimum balance requirements.
- You don’t have a good credit history: Found will let you open an account without performing a credit check.
- You want a bank that can help you keep track of your expenses: Whenever you make transactions with your Found debit card, Found tracks and categorizes the expense automatically. It uses your banking history to create detailed expense, income, profit, and loss reports in real time.
- You want a bank that can help you stay on top of your taxes: The Found business checking account offers expense management and tax planning tools, helping you categorize expenses and track tax write-offs for more savings.
When Found Is Not a Good Fit
- You need support for cash deposits: As an online-only provider, Found doesn’t accept cash deposits. We recommend Bank of America if your business meets this scenario, as it allows up to $7,500 fee-free cash deposits per month. For more information, read our Bank of America Business Checking review.
- You need support for mobile check deposits: Currently, Found doesn’t allow mobile check deposits. A similar online banking platform that offers mobile check deposit functionality is Lili. Read our Lili Business Checking review to find out more.
- You need access to a full range of banking products: The only banking product Found offers is business checking. If you’re looking for an online provider with a complete business banking product selection, consider First Internet Bank, which offers business checking, savings accounts, money market accounts, CDs, and lending products. Our First Internet Bank Business Checking review can help you decide if this online bank is a good fit for your business banking needs.
- You want to earn interest on checking deposits: The Found business checking account doesn’t earn interest. The best provider for high APY is Bluevine, which earns qualified 2.00% APY on balances up to and including $250,000. To learn more about Bluevine, read our Bluevine Business Checking review.
If your small business meets one or more of these scenarios, check out our guide to the best small business checking accounts for additional recommendations.
Found Business Checking Overview
Found Business Checking Requirements
You can visit the Found website to open a business checking account. You’ll need to provide your personal information, such as legal name and address, social security number, and date of birth.
Found doesn’t require a self-employed individual or freelancer to provide information on any kind of business structure when applying for an account, but if you have an LLC, you can add your EIN once you sign up. Found prohibits certain businesses from opening an account—you can check this list for more information.
Before opening an account, read our guide to opening a business bank account. It includes a free downloadable checklist of required documents.
Found Business Checking Features
Found’s business checking account offers no monthly fees, a Mastercard debit card, and built-in bookkeeping and invoicing software with tax planning tools.
Business Debit Card
Found issues a business debit Mastercard to small business owners, providing easy tracking of expenses and payments. You can also freeze your card for security in the Found app. In addition, you can connect Found to useful business platforms, such as Stripe, PayPal, Venmo, and Etsy.
Online & Mobile Banking
Found offers digital banking through its website and mobile banking app. The app has received mostly positive reception from past users, with a ranking of 4.8 stars on the App Store and 4.6 stars on Google Play. Reviews mostly praise the bank’s numerous business tools, particularly tax estimates and personalized invoicing. However, many complain that Found’s customer service leaves much to be desired.
Bookkeeping
Found will track and categorize expenses automatically whenever you use your Found debit card. You can also add receipts to your transaction history with the app’s built-in photo receipt capture feature. To give you a clear picture of your business activity, Found uses your account history to create real-time expense, income, profit, and loss reports.
Tax Tools
When Found tracks and categorizes your expenses, it notes down tax-deductible items and analyzes your banking data to provide real-time estimates of how much you owe in taxes. It even auto-generates a self-employed Schedule C form to reduce your paperwork during tax season.
Invoicing
Small business owners can create free, unlimited, and customized invoices for professional branding. The invoicing software includes credit cards, debit cards, direct deposits, Cash App, Zelle, Venmo, and PayPal as payment options. It also allows automated billing through scheduling future and recurring invoices.
Other Found Business Products
If you want access to more advanced business tools, you can upgrade to Found Plus, which costs $14.99 per month (or $95.88/per year). Through Found Plus, you can:
- 1.5% APY on balances up to $20,000
- Create unlimited rules for bookkeeping categories
- Create custom bookkeeping categories
- Pull expense data through photo receipt capture
- Export bookkeeping data
- Pay taxes directly from the app
- Priority customer support line
Found Business Checking Pros & Cons
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| No monthly maintenance fees, no minimum balance requirement, and no initial deposit requirement | Does not offer joint accounts |
| Free bookkeeping software and tax planning tools | Doesn’t accept mobile check deposits |
| Hassle-free online account opening | Doesn’t accept cash deposits |
Found’s integrated business banking solutions are best for freelancers, self-employed individuals, and sole proprietors who do their own bookkeeping and taxes. Having an all-in-one money management solution reduces the manual load of transferring banking data to your bookkeeping system or computing how much you owe in taxes.
However, Found lacks many integral business banking features. Like most digital-exclusive banking solutions, Found cannot accept cash deposits, making it a bad fit for cash-reliant businesses. It also lacks a mobile check deposit feature, which means that you can only accept payments through Found’s invoicing tool or transfers from other banks and payment gateways.
Found User Reviews
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Built-in expense tracking and tax preparation tools | Lack of mobile check deposit support |
| Few fees | Slow customer support response time |
| User-friendly interface | Customer support only available via email |
Found has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot. The majority of users said that they’re satisfied with its services, and self-employed individuals and full-time business owners find its tax preparation and expense-tracking tools useful. Because the app has these features built-in, users get to save on fees they might have otherwise spent on additional bookkeeping software or services. Most users also noted that the platform’s interface is well-designed and easy to navigate.
Dissatisfied customers dislike that the app lacks support for mobile check deposits. A few users also claimed that the provider’s customer service team takes a long time to respond to concerns and inquiries. Since email is the only contact channel Found uses, the customer service team can be difficult to reach for urgent concerns.
Alternatives to Found Business Checking
Found is one of many fintech providers aiming to streamline business cash management by blending business checking with budgeting, bookkeeping, tax preparation, and invoicing. If Found cannot meet your business needs, there are many similar alternatives you can look into.
- Lili* is best for businesses needing personalized invoicing, tax preparation assistance, and cash deposit support. Like Found, Lili offers personalized invoicing and tax preparation tools that help you save for tax season, track write-offs, and fill Schedule C forms. Its advantage over Found is that it supports cash deposits through Green Dot retail branches.
- Novo* is best for businesses wanting personalized invoicing and fee-free ATM usage. It also offers personalized invoicing for businesses and, unlike Found, provides unlimited ATM fee reimbursements.
- Relay* is best for businesses looking for bookkeeping tools and affordable wire transfers. Like Found, Relay tracks and categorizes your business expenses.
Found* |  Lili* | Novo* |  Relay* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Detailed Expense Tracking | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
Tax Tools | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
Personalized Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
Cash Deposit Support** | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
Mobile Check Deposit Support | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
*Providers are fintech platforms backed and FDIC-insured by a supporting bank partnership (Piermont Bank for Found; Choice Financial Group for Lili, Middlesex Federal Savings for Novo, and Evolve Bank & Trust for Relay).
**Lili only allows cash deposits through Green Dot retail locations; Novo allows cash deposits through money orders.
Bottom Line
A Found business checking account is ideal for freelancers, self-employed professionals, and sole proprietors who do the majority of their business management on their own. With Found, you can save on zero monthly fees and streamline your business operations with built-in accounting, invoicing, and tax tools.
