Tax-free pre-tax contributions and withdrawals for qualified medical expenses, employer contributions, and growth through investments for the win!

But that number has more than tripled since, and now HSA accounts can be started with banks, brokers, credit unions, and insurance companies. HSAs were originally designed for modest deposits through payroll, followed by frequent small withdrawals. If you or your employer have picked a poor HSA admin, the good news is that you are not stuck with them.

A person contributing to an HSA is under no obligation to contribute to his or her employer-sponsored HSA. And you can contribute to an HSA outside of employer payroll deductions. Employers, however, may require that direct payroll contributions be made only to the sponsored HSA plan.

As with most things, it definitely pays to shop around. There are far more HSA administrators out there than there are IRA brokers. And with bank rates as low as they have been, with low borrowing rates, those yields are not helping you much. Remember, you must have an HDHP to get and continue contributing to an HSA. Why did you list them? So why do I have to choose where the money goes? Or did I answer my own question that if I raise the amount in my account the decision on where to invest has already been made.

Many HSA administrators offer mutual funds or self directed brokerage accounts to attract customers with large HSA accounts.

Some people treat their HSA as a retirment account. If you are thinking of your HSA as a retirement account then you want to invest in a mix of stocks and bonds. Unreimbursed receipts can be treated as an emergency fund. If you get laid off you can always reimburse yourself. You might also think of your HSA as a retirement account with a 7.

Employer contribution to your HSA bypass social security and medicare taxes. When you turn 65 non-health expense withdrawls from your HSA will be penaly free but will count as income when you file your tax return. A HSA is not subject to manadtory withdrawl rules like a traditional IRA. An HSA inherited by your child will be taxed upon iheritance; unlike a IRA or k.

I retired in June and have a K balance in my HSA. I chose a Vanguard total stock fund. Sandra, HSA is a Health Saving Acct and grows over the years. You never loose it at the end of the year like an FSA. My is invested in 2 different Vanguard funds and growing like our other investments. In retirement you can use the funds to pay for cobra insurance benefits, Medicare premiums and other medical expenses tax free.

Should you need it for living expenses you can use it like an IRA and pay normal income taxes no penalties. Or you can let it grow with no RMD requirements. It is like an IRA on steroids, Tax free in some cases and normal income taxes in other cases. Sure you pay investment and HSA fees that annoy me but they are worth the expense. I very much appreciate the inclusion of the credit union. Thank you for listing it. Also — if you decide to close a credit union account, you get that money back. Just a minimum deposit that you get back.

I checked both credit union websites listed and both seem to have very strict rules for membership. Could you please elaborate on that option and which of the 2 credit unions listed you are referring to. My originally was through my employer and they change from Mellon back to Health Equity. Since I was retiring soon and like the mellon investment fees and fund choices I transferred my Health equity funds at retirement to Mellon — HSA Benefit Wallet.

Based largely on your website, I opened an account with Lake Michigan. It turned out to be a mistake, partially my fault, but mostly that of Lake Michigan.

Their customer service was terrible. Second, after I paid the donation etc. Finally, because I delayed after opening the account in depositing my HSA contribution mostly because I was disappointed in the new rate and was thinking about going elsewhere , LMCU closed my account, without any notice to me.

When I called LMCU, it refused to reopen the account. I am going elsewhere. Their response was I should have read the fine print in a notice LMCU insisted it sent to me, but never did. Not what I would call a customer friendly credit union.

My new employer does not offer HDHP. Is there a way I can open a new HSA without being enrolled in a HDHP so that I can transfer the funds and avoid a monthly maintenance fee? A HDHP seems to be a standard requirement to open a HSA. You only need to have an HSA to transfer the account. I am in a similar situation.

I had HDHP through my former employer hence had an HSA with optum. Shiv, You can only contribute to an HSA if you are in a qualified HDHP. The custodian will report your contributions to the IRS, and the extra contribution would need to be withdrawn and charged a penalty. I expect you know this, however, as you have calculated the maximum contribution. You can, however, transfer the HSA whenever you want.

So my advice is to start shopping for a custodian with lower fees for your situation. It also lowers the gross amount shown on our w-2 and tax return each year. Since our household income is a little lower than average with me as a SAHM it helps us qualify for lower payments on my student loan and other programs based on income, like the Earned Income Credit.

If your employer offers this, be sure to take advantage of the opportunity! My employer just switched to a high deductible health plan and they do not offer a sponsored HSA so I need to shop for one. This article has been very helpful. I am new to HSAs but as you say they are a no brainer and I am also a fan. I have tried to determine what the max family plan HSA contribution is consdiering that my wife and I are both over 55 and not on medicare.

This is the website: It would be like allocating part of your IRA to health care expenses and be able to use it before you are 59 and a half without penalty. It looks like this is already outdated as HSA Bank has increased their min. I came across this post while looking for a replacement for Chase HSA. The comparison of management fees and investment options is nice, but the reason my wife and I want to switch is that Chase customer service is horrendous, and their web site is something out of Any recommendations for HSA administrators that have good customer service and a modern, usable web site?

Even having insurance with their sister wife insurance carrier Select Health it was near impossible. My employer will only let me contribute to HSA bank pre-payroll, not Health Equity because they have HSA Bank integrated with payroll.

Regarding your comment about HSA using TD Ameritrade—I thought that we could only invest the HSA in a mutual fund, not individual equities or bonds. Not the monthly fees on the credit balance but for the self direct investments in stock funds i.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, I figure that would have been way out of line. You are one of the few with a positive comment on this bank. Can you tell me how long you have been with them?

We had a Wells Fargo HSA account and it was sold to Optum. We just funded our HSA in a lump sum. After seeing the money transferred out of our investment account, we waited 7 days to see if it would ever show up in our HSA.

Our next step is to get a lawyer involved to get our money back then find a new HSA bank. Meanwhile, our HDHP has a huge deductible still and I am waiting to get into three doctors waiting so we have money to pay them , get two girls in for eye exams that need glasses, etc.

Seriously, what a nightmare! Not a good deal at all! This HSA was started about when my husband was working for an employer who paid for part of our high deductible health plan HDHP.. Things have changed a few times since then: My husband changed jobs to where we had to buy our own health insurance, another HDHP, which allowed us to continue using Optum Bank for our HSA.

The other much welcomed change is that my husband could is now getting his medical coverage through the Veterans Administration; not only has that saved us several hundred dollars per month, but he is receiving excellent care from his medical team.

This means we now only have to buy health insurance for me. Since an employer is not paying for my health insurance and my HSA is being funded with dollars that taxes have already been paid on do you know if there is any tax benefits to us? Or, if there is any good HSA without fees, open up an account there and fund it. Finally, if I understand your chart correctly it seems that in order to avoid a fee monthly or otherwise for an HSA there must be a certain minimum balance.

Hi Karlene, My employer BASIC administers HSA for employers and we work with many banks. Avidia Health HSA and First American Bank HSA you can google them. However, you may want to determine if Optum Bank charges a fee to close the account because many banks do; if so, open your new HSA account, transfer your balance to the new HSA account, and then close your account with a zero balance. Consider talking with your employer about offering pre-tax contributions to your HSA.

BASIC can administer that service for your employer and each employee can have their HSA account at any bank they want so they can choose the fee structure and features they want with their HSA. I hope this information is helpful. I will call Optum Bank and ask if they charge a fee to close the account. I did not consider that there might be a fee. Avidia Health HSA and First American Bank HSA. I do not have an employer, which is why we are directly paying the HDHP premium and funding the HSA with after-tax dollars.

Yes, there are tax benefits, but it will have to wait until you file your tax return. The Form will address it. This is what I did for tax year I put money in Dec , so my tax benefit was much faster. That comes with an additional 0. Bit of a cheap shot. Thank you so much for this great article! My husband and I just enrolled a HSA qualified family plan for the first time. I want to open a HSA account mainly to pay for the high deductible. It really depends on what your health policy is for ex.

The federal government has set up contribution limits whether if you are single or married, but they interact with the type of health policy you have. Call my expert at Bernard Health at and they will help you for free. Where do you see this? Hmmm… You know what, I had AETNA HDHP with a CHASE HSA, and I changed to a United Health PPO last month in the new calendar year.

You can read this at https: What is the best way to do this? Can the employer contribute the max and can we also contribute even if the total is over the max amount? How does this work for a family of 4? Have not researched these thouroughly yet, but they seem like good deals at first look. If you want to join ELFCU has some account requirements that come with this credit union, such as opening a savings account with them with some activity in it , but it appears they have no other HSA maintenance fee.

Their HSA savings account currently pays a decent 1. Here is something I learned the hard way, yesterday, about HSA bank. I spent most of the day in a hospital in Bangkok getting a comprehensive physical. When it came time to pay I presented my HSA debit card for payment, which was declined. I showed the manager the balance in my account online via my iPhone so he knew I had the money in my account.

I was allowed to leave the hospital without paying. I could not contact HSA bank from the hospital due to the 12 hour time difference and operating hours of the banks customer service of 7am to 10pm. Similar to a K or other retirement account you can make loans to yourself from an HSA. In this case I would just pay from my normal checking account keeping all records for recording keeping and reporting purposes.

I would then reimburse my checking account from my HSA with Health Equity. In fact, you can pay for your medical expenses yourself, then choose to pay yourself back from your HSA any time you choose — or never, if you prefer to keep it invested. How do you do this with HSA Bank? I have them currently with the debit card but cannot withdraw money to pay myself back.

I used to be able to do this with Chase HSA but Chase no longer offers HSA accounts. Have you tried submitting the receipts for qualifying medical expenses? I have receipts from 4 years ago. I did not have an HSA when the medical expenses were incurred. There does not seem to be a date restriction, but I am curious if you have attempted to take funds out of your HSA by this method?

After I do this for 30 years, I have a nice nest egg that I can cash out when I am 65 and use for retirement. I have an ira, investment accounts because I max my ira and my HSA. Each has a different role…. There are a lot of responsible people preparing and saving for retirement. There are caps in the amount of money you can save while using an IRA or Roth IRA.

These limits are quite low and really not sufficient if they are your only options. I max out my Roth. I was refunded that money back to me, after taxes were taken out and the fee for performing those services by the K administrator was taken out. Best of all, I am keeping my money, away from the useless, irresponsible politicians who will just waste it. I am sure that I will be able to find a need for it when I retire, even if that just means leaving it to my children or grand children.

My logic was that I wanted to be prepared for that large expense via the HSA if it was needed. Now, I am growing that balance and investing the funds much like I do in my K.

The growth comes from pre-tax dollars and grows tax-free. Any deductions are also tax-free when for medical use. As the article shows, after reaching retirement age the funds can also be draw out for regular use.

So, long story short, I am using my HSA as a way to get more pre-tax money invested for the long term. Hi Gary, Very smart. I like the idea of letting the account build to reap more benefits on the investment side. What about all the medical expenses you could be getting reimbursed for? Say you buy glasses, that is a qualified medical expense and you save money because there are no taxes taken out.

Would it be helpful to know what expenses qualify to use an HSA?

What if you need to go to a minute clinic or urgent care center, do you think you would save if you used your HSA? From what I understand, keep all of the receipts for the expenses you have paid out of pocket. When you reach 65 and want to withdraw from HSA, you can deduct from all of the expenses you have paid through out those years tax free.

The law does not specify you have to deduct your expenses at the end of every year. Just make sure you keep detailed receipts of your expenses so that you have you can compute your cost basis when you eventually withdraw when you are eligible at retirement. I keep it simple and pay through my HSA, so, when I withdraw, I know that all of the amount is taxable.

Look up the projections for how much money people are expected to need for out-of-pocket medical expenses in their retirement years — those costs can be staggering. Another one that might be worth adding to the list is BMO Harris: You choose the level of risk to assume with the funds. Kathlee- you still have to use one of the HSA banks that offers Vanguard funds.

I know that both Health Equity and Health Savings Administrators offer many of them, as is mentioned here in the table. I am the VP of Marketing and Sales for one of the countries top HSA administrators and I believe we have one of the best all around HSA.

It consists of no set up fees, no transactional bank fees, pay your provider feaures, ACH features, highest interest rates of return and investment options. I would be interested in learning more about your organization. Thanks for putting this guide together! Two notes about Health Equity: Large Cap FDSAX — 1. Mid Cap FEFAX — 1. International ARTKX — 1. Also — I spoke with US Bank and they no longer offer individual HSAs. I thought I understood the ins and outs of the HSAs, but now I am puzzled by a couple of issues.

Each spouse who is an eligible individual who wants an HSA must open a separate HSA. You cannot have a joint HSA. We have a family high deductible plan and so I opened a family HSA at HSA Bank. Do I need to change this? If you have a family high deductible plan, then you must have a joint HSA. If you each have individual plans, then you must each have your own HSA.

They have to match. Susan, I am curious how you know individual HSA accounts must be matched with individual health plans? If you might be able to help please email me at hchilton stanford. With HSA Bank, beware that they recently changed the way they do distributions.

The new web site design makes this an exercise in frustration. So another thing to consider with HSA administrators is how easy it is to get the money out. I just stack up our medical expenses every quarter or so and withdraw the composite amount then. You are absolutely right…. I had assumed in the event of a hospital stay that I could pay for entire stay with my debit card, of course, only if the amount was in line with what amount was currently in my HSA.

Great discussions, very helpful. Can anyone tell me the best way to remove funds without any fee consequences. I was told to use my debit card as credit only, not using it as debit with pin to avoid fees. I was also told to just go to my bank with the debit card and reimburse myself by getting a cash advance with the debit card….

So has anyone used the Lake Michigan HSA to shed light on their fees and customer service…and am I able to utilize them as I live in AZ?

I actually have been a member of Lake Michigan Credit Union in the past. They are a legit, customer-focused credit union. I am shocked to hear this. I can only assume the organization has changed radically since you were there. This is a fee mill, and they hate people. FYI — Regarding Lake Michigan Credit Union, while recently investigating HSA financial institutions offering HSA I noticed they provide HSAs for many credit unions not just their own members.

I also am a member at Lake MI credit union. Instead you have to either mail them a check for the HSA or you have to deposit it online or through their mobile app into your savings account at LMCU and then go online a few days later and transfer it into the HSA from the savings account. A bit of hassle. However, no fees for using the debit card or writing checks. They even provide the checks at no charge.

You should Inland Bank to your list!! They offer a no fee HSA. I got a Visa debit card and online banking with the option to have ongoing transfers into the HSA from my personal account. They are customer friendly and actually return your phone calls unlike my old provider. I looked at Inland, but there are no investment options. And the interest rate provided is next to nothing. From what I saw on their website, investments are on their way.

When I called, they did verify that and mentioned that they had a pretty nice list of mutual funds options. Thanks for your comment. Inland fit my needs perfectly; just looking for a no-fee HSA, no need for investment options.

To put in the maximum per family, do my spouse and I each need to have our own HSA, or can we put the full family maximum in his account? To put in the maximum family amount, you do not need two HSAs. You can do so with one. Based on my research, spouses who are covered under a family plan will open up two separate accounts to take advantage of the 55 years and over catch up contributon.

We make the maximum contribution to my account each year. No wonder SelectAccount is at the top of their lists. Devenir is an investment firm that manages the HSA dollars of many administrators on the HSAsearch list.

SelectAccount is certainly not the only partner.

Chase Investment Services

For example HSABank and Optum both partner Devenir and are also both listed HSASearch. A monthly investment fee may apply Please refer to your Health Savings Account Fee and Interest Schedule. Appears to have useful info even for non-Devenir providers. Could help narrow the options for more in-depth searches. What baffles me is that HSA provider mutual fund selections seem to have no rhyme or reason. Lists appear arbitrary, even those with low cost selections like Vanguard.

I need to sign up for an HSA in the next two weeks. Does anyone know anything about UMB Healthcare services or The HSA Authority? I would appreciate any feedback.

I joined an HSA in for the first time. I could have used this blog to make it easier back then. But after my research, I chose Select Account and have been very happy. I can upload any medical bills for future reference, put in folders by year if needed and match to expenses paid out with the click of a mouse. So I never worry about future IRS inquires for any reason. I have had no customer service problems. Fees are higher, but so are interest rates received and service.

Anyone using Health Savings Administrators and going the Vanguard Index fund route?? How is that working out? Most of the funds are Admiral shares so say 0. I have maxed out my HSA contributions for 4 years now and paid all medical expenses for 3 of the years from profit since my returns were so good. If market corrects or feels bad then will have to wait several years until returns feel good to take out more.

Else just wait until It is better to build up your dollars first then worry later about the lowest cost, even if in a bank account. Are you using your HSA just as a tax sheltered investment tool, or do you plan to spend it on healthcare payments? Is there any advantage to using your HSA funds on incremental medical expenses instead of just paying out of pocket? Would I not want to let my HSA account drop below a certain amount because then I could not gain interest on investments?

Our intent for our HSA is to save for out of pocket medical expenses when we reach age 65 — such as health insurance premiums above Medicare part D. Since our investments had done so well earlier this year, we decided to take some of the profit to pay for our recent medical expenses over the last few years we have had the HSA.

If you keep cash in your bank account for emergencies and to also cover most health care expenses, then I would use the HSA as a medical investment tool for the future.

If you need the HSA to be your bank account for health care expenses, then I would use the HSA as a medical bank account. Either way if you do the HSA pre-payroll, then the federal government pays for 7. Plus your employer get a 7. Anyone try Macatawa bank?

This looks like the best option to me. No fees and Vanguard investment options without weird restrictions. Am I missing something? I called them after your post. They say there is a 0. I believe he mentioned Retail Investor fees for the investment. He wanted to mail me the information to tell me more. If there are no other fees and the service was acceptable then this is good: I think Macatawa Bank has the best HSA for investing on this web site if you believe in index fund investing.

I just received their information in the mail after calling them last week. They offer 12 Vanguard mutual funds — most of which are lower cost Admiral funds. The average cost for their investment lineup is about 0. So when you add their 0. This is lower than anybody I have seen. So there is a lost opportunity cost of keeping cash in the bank if you wanted all you money fully invested.

If you live in Michigan I would definitely switch over. I am not sure how their debit card would work elsewhere in the U.

After getting their information in the mail I called Macatawa to confirm fees and information I had knew of. It was all as I understand. Also while you are building up your account value, the debit card works across the U.

If you are a serious index investor, then costs to have your account matter and cost of the investment itself matter. The idea with index funds, is that you can almost get what the market gives you IF you keep your total costs very low. Others highlighted charge a low flat rate. I suspect their local Michigan market may be enough for them. They were very upfront about the fee.

This fits in well. I know because in a few months I will have had both. Looking for a no-fee HSA account. I like the option of mutual funds. Just wouldnt be an option for me right now because this is my first time enrolling in an HSA plan. Any feedback would be appreciated! Then it comes down to how much you are going to keep in the checking account.

So I think im leaning admin now. Thank you very much for your article. Thanks for making it easy! They also have one of the best HSA investment lineups out there. I have had a terrible experience with Bank of America. I was told they would be available in 48hr.

Did not receive call. Funds still not available. Have been waiting to pick up rX. At this point I want to change administrators. Went with B of A because we have checking and brokerage accounts with them and thought it would be smooth. B of A HSA knows nothing about B of A checking. There website navigation is clunky and to me outdated.

Some features are there, but they are hard to find and overall not user friendly in the least. Thank you for this blog as it has been very helpful while I sort out my options. It seems to me the Saturna HSA is the lowest cost option with investment options but there is little discussion here about it. Does anyone use them? I think Saturna is a great option. If you put your money in a Staturna mutual fund, there are no fees period on anything.

Is stocks available at Saturna? Love your blog G. Does anyone have any information or advice on an individual contributing to an HSA that is not tied to an employer? My employer does not offer benefits or a sponsored HSA. Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated! If it is not employer-sponsored, then you cannot contribute directly from your paycheck. You still receive the tax benefits, you just have to fund your account with the after-tax dollars you bring home, then wait until tax filing time to benefit from the tax savings.

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Melissa — sorry, I forgot to add one thing. What you could do, knowing that your taxable income is going to be reduced by whatever amount you contribute to your HSA, is file a revised W-4 with your employer. Add a couple of deductions so you reduce your taxes.

That gets you some relief in your take home pay, and keeps you from having to wait to get the HSA tax benefit once per year. I know I was in an odd situation trying to navigate this on my own. Although slightly sad about not having the pre-tax advantage, I will look at this as similar to a Roth…. Thanks again for the help! I learn so much from this blog and intelligent commenters as well! Big difference from the Roth IRA.

HSA Bank is awful — although I maintain a balance in excess of the waiver balance amount with them, they continue to charge me with both the monthly maintenance fee and the monthly investment fee. Just from a customer service perspective, and the ability and ease to speak with a customer service rep. You should footnote that depending upon the insurance carrier, HSA Bank does not waive the monthly account maintenance fee, even if the account balance meets the minimum. Unless the law has changed, another thing a lot of people do not know regarding HSAs is that the funds can be used for medical purposes for anyone who Is claimed as a dependent on their tax return regardless whether that person has an HSA compatible health insurance policy.

My son, when he was in college, had his own health insurance through his college and I had an HSA compatible health insurance policy through my employer and he was not a dependent on my policy. In his junior year he was diagnosed with a serious illness and his coverage was good but did not cover all his medical expenses, especially those he needed to travel to see his doctors college on east coast, doctors on west.

So I was able to order a debit card for him and he used my HSA savings funds to purchase all his travel and other expenses his insurance did not cover. We were able to do this because I still claimed him on my tax returns. Looking for a better alternative now …. Look like Wells Fargo is the way to go as long as you put in 5K.

So I am going to open and out in my before April 18 and then again another after that date attributed to Then no set up or monthly fees. They do NOT have a minimum cash level. They do NOT charge account fees. You CAN trade vanguard ETFs. I would like to steer everyone away from Health Savings Administrators.

Not only are their fees ridiculous but they make you fill out a from and mail it in to close your account. Talk about a bunch of scammers. If I am a small business and would like to establish an HSA only three employees , do I have any other option than using an administrator or trustee to manage the HSA? It cannot be managed in house, correct? You do have to establish the account with an administrator to ensure each HSA owner will receive the proper tax forms. If you are looking for a No Fee account, try Inland Bank.

We received notice today that our HSA administrator, WELLS FARGO, is getting out of the HSA business completely, selling ALL HSA accounts to United Healthcare. We have enjoyed having no fees for years, because the accounts were linked to our other Wells Fargo checking and savings accounts, and to our self directed Roth and traditional IRA brokerage accounts.

This will come with mandatory monthly fees and the loss of our current choices of investment funds. Miller, Thanks for this article. I studied it for several months. I chose Wells Fargo and went over there today to open an account.

Just in case, the grid goes down sometime, I want a place to go to get my money. I have dropped Wells Fargo and added Optum — thanks for the heads up. I will try to update the others shortly. Is that your take on it? I studied all the HSAs I could find…. Oh, I looked over Optum again. Looks like their fees are reasonable. However, they are located in Utah. If the grid ever goes down……. First Tech Federal Credit Union has a no-fee HSA. Credit Unions are required to limit their Field of Membership: If you want to join, you will find a way to put yourself in the field of membership.

Do not use Bank Of America HSA. I signed up, funded my account and I have yet to get my first claim paid. All I get is excuses, run-around and transfers.

I get no help. I only have one claim for the dentist bill I paid. I have wasted hours and hours online and on the phone. Health Savings Administrators used to be good, but no more. Their fees appear to be well above what other competitors charge. Now there is no cap so the fee, albeit reduced a bit, is applied to the entire account value. Compared to the others on your list Health Savings Administrators is not an attractive option in my opinion and should not be included in the discussion.

I just noticed this today and am moving my account asap. Thank you GE Miller for this information and all for your comments. Our strategy is to invest in lower cost index funds and grow the money as long as we can. One account is currently at Health Equity through our health insurance and they pay for the monthly fee.

Health Equity offers an advisor tool with three levels and two of them cost a monthly fee. The bank may be recommending these because they are benefiting from pushing them this is a drawback of of using a financial advisor at an investment company to choose your mutual funds. But it was certainly worth the look. Health Equity offers 67 different funds. Many of them are passive, low expense funds index.

Be careful because Health Equity has another tier called Choice, and some of these low cost funds actually cost more than they normally would if you were purchasing them outside of this bank, but they are still relatively low cost compared to actively managed funds.

I believe these are all no load and no sales cost funds that they offer, so I think this means that you can change your portfolio without any extra fees.

Best HSA Provider for Investing HSA Money

We also have an account in Select Account. They offer only 26 different funds, and only three of them are index funds. All are no load or load waived and no sales charges. I also took a look at HS Administrators and they too offer a lot of different index funds that are highly rated.

I like that one can look at the investment options in HS Administrator without having an account there. I did a bit more digging with Health Equity. The lower cost funds that they offer are only available through their Choice funds and I would have to pay a fee of.

So that adds on 0. The Vanguard funds are the group that the additional fee applies to. Still cheaper than actively managed, but anathema for an index investor. Thanks so much for this blog post and all these people commenting! Definitely helps when making a decision to open up an individual HSA since my current employer does not offer this. My HDHP is crazy high! Wanted to give everyone an update. I just opened up an account with Alliant Credit Union.

I called customer support already and they were very helpful! Thanks for the update Winnie! I had just narrowed down to LMCU or Alliant but was leaning toward Alliant. That adds up to 2. Why would anyone open an HSA with them when Vanguard offers their own HSAs? Health Savings Administrators was a nightmare to close my HSA, which I opened mistakenly believing I could. I was excited to use low-cost Vanguard funds and hoped this would work out, but it did not and I would never recommend them.

I just looked at HSAbank. Investment accounts are not a deposit account, or an obligation of HSA Bank, and they may lose value. They are not guaranteed by any federal government agency. Performance data and ratings represent past performance and are not a guarantee of future results. Kelly, This is standard. Any investments you have mutual funds are not.

This is also true for your retirement and taxable investment accounts. The FDIC does not insure investment instruments. The equivalent to look for in an investment account is SIPC insurance. This does not ensure against losses in your account because these investments have risk!

Many brokers carry private insurance that works similarly, but for amounts above the SIPC limits. Matt, Thanks so much for clarifying that for me! Although reading through comments again, it looks as if many keep a balance in each…? Kelly, You could do both—how much cash you keep is up to you.

But of course, there is no guaranteed interest rate today that keeps up with inflation, much less gives investing in mutual funds a run for its money. Yes, it is also common, but not universal, to be required to keep a mandatory amount of money in the deposit account before you can add to the investment account.

My husband and I have a large deductible plan and we both want to take advantage of the tax write off. We just want to get an HSA that has low fees and is easy to use.

Who would you recommend? We have seen so many positive and negative comments about all the companies. Health Equity or HSA Administrators? My current employer is with Health Equity and they will pay the maintenance fee. I have Vanguard investments with HSA Administrators from my previous employer and debating if I need to transfer it to Health Equity. Do you have a specific recommendation for an account with the following: Basically, I would like to keep my money safe and build it up over time through interest rates even if these rates are low.

Would like to minimize risk. My employer does not contribute to my HSA, but does pay for my monthly health insurance premiums. What our employees would like to happen is- there would be two sweep features: GE Miller, just want to thank you for the site and the recent updates.

Very helpful in navigating through the confusing HSA choices when considering fees, investment options, and the like! Our Wells Fargo HSA was closed and rolled to Optum Bank in Sept We had no investments so the transfer was straight forward. The debit card came before the Wells Fargo account was closed, so no hold ups with coverage. I have my medical providers run the card as credit, so no debit fee.

Thank you for this post. Was investigating to see if we were in the best plan for us. Lots of info out there, very nice to have it all on one site. And I appreciate the comments from others. I just had to jump here and comment on HSA Administrators. I ahve been a customer of theirs since They must have the WORST website on the planet, I feel I am back in Geocities.

They lock me out of my account for no apparent reason and then I have to call, no way to reset password online once locked. Many times I am on hold for a long time, I hear those cell phone minutes clicking away. Then there are monthly fees and an annual fee. I will be taking the money out of there before any of my other investments and pay the tax on it when neccessary, just to get rid of it.

Strictly as a tax advantage investment, it is basically my long term health care account Long Term Care Insurance Premiums are ridiculous. I pay all my medical expenses out of pocket. The reason I am with Health Equity is my past employer uses them.

I have been with Health Equity since This will be the third time that Health Equity has changed mutual funds that I can invest in. Each time I have to liquidate all of my mutual funds and pick new ones.

Each time the number of funds has been reduced and the selection more restricted. None of the latest mutual funds meets the requirements I have for my overall portfolio diversification.

They are always changing fees, but never clearly informing the investor of the change. Try finding a fee schedule on their website. I am going to have TD Ameritrade try and see if they have better luck. TD Ameritrade is well known, low cost broker. It has the selection of ETFs and mutual funds that will meet my overall portfolio diversification needs.

I cannot find this fee schedule on Hsa Bank web site, but at least they made an effort. Hsa Bank deposit 1 cent to open the account. The supervisor agreed to remove the fees. I am waiting to see if the fees are removed. If you call the administrator for any reason, always ask for the latest fee and interest schedule or where to find it on their website.

You may be surprise on how little is known about fees by the person who answer the phone. It is your responsibility to dig into the details to meet your requirements. HSA Administrator is there to make money within the limit of the law not to serve your best interest. These fees are always changing or are very hard to determine.

Example is under Health Equity there should be a note on the 0. Thanks for the details Tony. I have my HSA with Benefit Wallet but want to open an HSA account with HSA bank, also for the investment options with TD Ameritrade. Do you think it is worth it to open the account? All the other mutual funds have high expense ratios… Would love some advice! Remember there is a yearly fee with TD Ameritrade.

Most brokerage firm allows you to paid any fee from a tax account your checking account instead of paying from with the tax advantage account. Update on Health Equity: Just receive an e-mail that they are opening a trust account that will allow account holder to keep their existing mutual funds.

Do you know HSA bank charges a fee to have the account open or TD Ameritrade charges a yearly fee? Can you tell me what the fee is? My HSA balance is 96,, have use any saving it for my LTC, currently invested in a Vanguard fund with Bebefit Wallet. Hate the fees, will look into your advice. Rachel, This is a question that you should ask TS Ameritrade since it depends on a number of factors.

I use my HSA as a retirement account so I keep no funds in the HSA checking account. Their fee schedule does not mention the balance required to have the annual fee waived. I have been dollar cost averaging from one fund into 3 stock funds each month.

Last year all my transactions were doubled. This year all my transactions are being trippled. Each sale is split into 3 sales and each purchase is split into 3 purchases. So if I am selling one fund and buying 3 they turn it into 12 transactions which I have to key into Quicken. I have written an email, no response. Left two messages with supervisors, no response. My theory is that mailed in contributions are getting coded inconsistently as employee or employer contribtions, etc… Then the third party system they depend upon is splitting transactions based on this category which does not affect tax filling.

My employer makes one contribution each year by check. It is starting to drive me nuts and I am looking at HSABank TD Ameritrade. As far as I know TD Ameritrade does not have an annual fee.

You do earn a 0. Whether you chose to be fully invested and paid the fees or keep it in cash is a personal choice. I prefer to keep some cash for emergency and for investing if a good opportunity comes up. The point I would like to made is that with TD Ameritrade you have more choices from commission fee trades to other low cost options ETF, Mutual Funds, stocks.

Your overall cost at TD Ameritrade depends on your trade strategy. Once again, it is your responsibility to do your own research. You cannot trust what is said on the web and in addition items can change very quickly.

I switched a 64k balance from HSA Administrators to HSA Bank with The TD Ameritrade investment account. I kept 12k with HSA Bank to avoid all fees there and then moved 52k to TD and invested it in two stocks and the Vanguard emerging markets ETF VWO.

As far as I can tell I am no longer paying any fees of any sort, except the tiny expense ratio of VWO. It is actually better. I found a West Michigan credit union — Fedcom Credit Union and they have a fee-free HSA account and offer 3. Check around for the best rates! I called Optum Bank to find out their fees. Investment accounts are charged 0. Was DiscoveryBenefits under consideration for your list? I am looking for a move from the unsatisfactory forced transition from Wells Fargo to Optum.

Is there a good, low fee adminstrator that offers good service? I recommend Avidia Health and First American Bank Chicago Area for no fee HSA with great service. For employers that are interested in allowing their employees choose the financial institution for their HSA, BASIC basiconline.

We believe this is the true spirit of HSA and we have the unique capability to support contributions at different banks. This approach avoids the disruption of having to set up new HSA accounts when employers change insurance carriers. BASIC will manage your HSA benefit, ensure contribution limits are not exceeded, and deposit HSA contributions to your employee HSA accounts at the banks they choose.

Many regional banks and credit unions do not charge monthly fees for HSA accounts. Both provide online banking so you can access your funds anywhere and they support account holders in all states. If you decide to move to a new bank, determine if your currrent bank charges a fee to close the account; if so, open your new HSA account, transfer your balance to the new HSA account, and then close your account with a zero balance. Hello — it seems that there is a lot of expertise using this website, so hopefully someone can help.

In an article published at Kiplinger http: Is anyone familiar with which administrators do this? I use quicken to keep a running total. However, in 20 years I will need the receipts so I scan and save save them. Make sure you have an off site backup as well. The cost for losing your receipts could be high. Hi All, My husband and I dentists with minimal knowledge about HSA details.

My spouse and I have had HSA accounts through Merrill Lynch ML for 3 years. ML is no longer allowing HSA plans inside their portfolios, so we need to roll our money over into a new HSA Plan.

Because ML is essentially closing down their HSA plans, I refuse to go to Bank of America where they are attempting to send us. The money is meant to be invested and used for post retirement medical expenses.

Health Savings Administrators Health Equity HSA Bank Elements. We need low maintenance HSA accounts. Perhaps some sort of Vanguard mutual funds are best for us? Any help is greatly appreciated regarding which account is the best for us to set up and which Vanguard funds are best for investors like us. I just switched to HSA Bank from Health Savings Administrators. Read through the blog for reviews of both.

I think HSA Bank with a TD Ameritrade account invested in Vanguard ETF would be the cheapest solution for you. HQ has higher fees for investments, Benefit Wallet has Vanguard funds and I stayed with Mellon.

Even rolling over the HQ at retirement tp Mellon. Health Savings Administrators, Health Equity, HSA Bank and Elements. That said, examining HSA plans really makes my head spin.

My wife and I initially opened an HSA account at Alliant CU. In , we rolled our HSA to Elements Financial where we were able to finally invest our considerable HSA balance. Our Elements Financial HSA certainly works for us. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting. We respect your privacy. Your personal information will not be sold or shared. February 20, Comments. That is to be expected. Juan, I am in a similar situation.

Hi again, This is the website: What you were calculating was 3. I would recommend Optum Bank. Hello Kim Shook, I appreciate your quick response. Dawn, It really depends on what your health policy is for ex. Thanks for the find. Might as well remove US Bank from the list.

Only Employer sponsored accounts. I had no idea this would be such a racket!. How did you pay then? I have HSA Bank also and am interested. John, Similar to a K or other retirement account you can make loans to yourself from an HSA. Hope that helps, Paul. The goal of the HSA is for you fund your medical costs with pre-tax dollars. The investment part is a perk, not the goal. Each has a different role… best of luck!

To me, an HSA is to serve two purposes: That was one of the options on the chart…. David, thanks for this info. Sounds like a great account. Thanks for the response! Thanks for the added information Stephanie.

Save yourself the money if you can! I would be suspicious of SelectAccount: Anyone try getting their money back? My comment above was in reference to the Mac at away Bank. They are out of Michigan. You must find the total cost to you to find out if it works for you. They were very upfront about the fee 0. Bancorp pays a decent tiered interest on the HSA bank account.

No other fees charged if you receive statements online charge for paper statements. Melissa, If it is not employer-sponsored, then you cannot contribute directly from your paycheck. Melissa, You are welcome.

Hands down, the best is Saturna Capital. THIS SHOULD BE CRIMINAL!!! Will you be updating this list again any time soon? Thanks again for the discussion!