HSA Bank eliminating investment options

[nps]

Didn't see this posted here yet. Not a lot of detail but this doesn't look like a good change

https://hsabank.com/Members/Investment-Transition

[Tim_in_GA]

Not good!

[aristotelian]

Didn't see this posted here yet. Not a lot of detail but this doesn't look like a good change

https://hsabank.com/Members/Investment-Transition

It does not say eliminated, it says new options.coming soon and one of them is a self managed platform.

[hamhocs]

Well they are making the Schwab HSBA sell-only, so I would say the Op is accurate

[NewishBog]

This makes me even happier that I sweep excess cash from HSABank to Fidelity. Fidelity doesn't keep changing things around on me, doesn't nickel and dime me, offers good value, has excellent customer service, leaves me alone, etc etc.

[hamhocs]

This makes me even happier that I sweep excess cash from HSABank to Fidelity. Fidelity doesn't keep changing things around on me, doesn't nickel and dime me, offers good value, has excellent customer service, leaves me alone, etc etc.

How often do you do it? I do it annually, but that might change to monthly now.

[MoneyOCD]

Received a post card from the HSA Bank today with the same info.
We have $200k+ at Schwab HSA and now can not invest there anymore - I assume also no auto re-investments?
Will need to max out our HSA earlier this year, while I still can move money to Schwab and going forward just start reimbursing all our expenses to the max of available cash or till we run out of expenses (have about $40k of receipts collected over the years)
My biggest concern that they will force me eventually to sell all at Schwab
And I just about to finish consolidation of all out investments with them
Why Schwab can not offer individual HSAs as Fidelity does? I do not understand that.

[Weathering]

This makes me even happier that I sweep excess cash from HSABank to Fidelity. Fidelity doesn't keep changing things around on me, doesn't nickel and dime me, offers good value, has excellent customer service, leaves me alone, etc etc.

How do you do this? Is it a pull from Fidelity?
My HSA (at HSA Bank) is through Fed. Govt employment. It only has a push out option for Schwab. With this change from HSA bank, I’m going to start a Fidelity HSA.

[StackingNickels]

I also use a Schwab HSBA as my investment option for my HSA Bank account. Since Lively also partners with Schwab for a HSBA, I am looking into transferring my entire HSA to Lively. I just chatted with an online representative who said that it is possible to do an "in-kind" transfer of investments from my current HSA Bank linked Schwab HSBA to a new Schwab HSBA linked to a Lively HSA.

Has anyone had any experiences in doing this ?

[Ultane]

Move it to cash at HSA bank then have fido transfer it.

I did it last month.

HSA bank is trash. Greedy

[stilllurking]

Move it to cash at HSA bank then have fido transfer it.

I did it last month.

HSA bank is trash. Greedy

Are there fees to transfer out of HSA Bank? My payroll deductions go direct to HSA Bank.

[MoneyOCD]

I also use a Schwab HSBA as my investment option for my HSA Bank account. Since Lively also partners with Schwab for a HSBA, I am looking into transferring my entire HSA to Lively. I just chatted with an online representative who said that it is possible to do an "in-kind" transfer of investments from my current HSA Bank linked Schwab HSBA to a new Schwab HSBA linked to a Lively HSA.

Has anyone had any experiences in doing this ?

I would be interested in that also. I do not mind selling all either, but to be out of the market for couple weeks may not be the best decision, plus I have some CDs that are not that easy to sell. Will be watching this thread

[Feldman]

Disappointing. Not surprising.

We'll see what this "Choice" plan is all about. However, with my company recently removing the HSA seed money they had previously offered (now applied in an equivalent amount to insurance premiums), there are fewer and fewer reasons to maintain an account with HSA Bank. The only remaining benefit is the small tax savings by contributing before application of FICA taxes. If they keep making it harder, I'll jump to Fidelity, which I already planned to do at separation. Following to understand the logistics of the sweep to Fidelity process. I front-load my contributions, so could do one or two transfers early in the year and be done for 11 months.

[jaMichael]

Hopefully my health plan - GEHA - will find a new HSA custodian.

[hamhocs]

This makes me even happier that I sweep excess cash from HSABank to Fidelity. Fidelity doesn't keep changing things around on me, doesn't nickel and dime me, offers good value, has excellent customer service, leaves me alone, etc etc.

How do you do this? Is it a pull from Fidelity?
My HSA (at HSA Bank) is through Fed. Govt employment. It only has a push out option for Schwab. With this change from HSA bank, I’m going to start a Fidelity HSA.

Yes, you do the transfer in your Fidelity account. It is pretty simple but the transfer might take a couple weeks to get to Fidelity. If you have money in the Schwab account, you need to transfer it in cash to HSA Bank before doing the transfer. If you do your own contributions to your HSA through payroll deduction, you can also set that up to go to Fidelity instead of HSA Bank.

[Feldman]

This makes me even happier that I sweep excess cash from HSABank to Fidelity. Fidelity doesn't keep changing things around on me, doesn't nickel and dime me, offers good value, has excellent customer service, leaves me alone, etc etc.

How do you do this? Is it a pull from Fidelity?
My HSA (at HSA Bank) is through Fed. Govt employment. It only has a push out option for Schwab. With this change from HSA bank, I’m going to start a Fidelity HSA.

Yes, you do the transfer in your Fidelity account. It is pretty simple but the transfer might take a couple weeks to get to Fidelity. If you have money in the Schwab account, you need to transfer it in cash to HSA Bank before doing the transfer. If you do your own contributions to your HSA through payroll deduction, you can also set that up to go to Fidelity instead of HSA Bank.

Thank you for the info. Can you sweep the full amount to Fidelity without fee or penalty, or must you leave a token balance in HSA Bank for safety? I'm not sure it could be possible in all plans to redirect payroll deductions straight to Fidelity. How would one go about this? Seems like something the benefits department at one's employer would have to support and bless. I don't see it happening at my employer. Unless I'm fundamentally misunderstanding the process (which is possible).

[stan1]

What is the bad thing people are worried about? Sounds like you will get a brokerage account through the "Choice" investment option and can buy ETFs for self managed investors?

[Feldman]

An inferior product with a bunch of new rules and regulations imposed by HSA Bank so they can make more money off your cash. They are clearly not satisfied with the slice they are getting now. But I won't do anything rash. I'm waiting to learn more about this vaunted "Choice" option. But suffice it to say, I don't trust their intentions.

[MoneyOCD]

What is the bad thing people are worried about? Sounds like you will get a brokerage account through the "Choice" investment option and can buy ETFs for self managed investors?

Personally for me - I do not need one more (and probably half-baked brokerage), trying really hard to consolidate all with Schwab.

[Trapper]

I feel whipped in that we just went through a transition to Schwab from TD Ameritrade with HSA Bank.
HSA Bank has always had a clumsy website and this new move will probably make me jump my balance to Fidelity.

[hamhocs]

This makes me even happier that I sweep excess cash from HSABank to Fidelity. Fidelity doesn't keep changing things around on me, doesn't nickel and dime me, offers good value, has excellent customer service, leaves me alone, etc etc.

How do you do this? Is it a pull from Fidelity?
My HSA (at HSA Bank) is through Fed. Govt employment. It only has a push out option for Schwab. With this change from HSA bank, I’m going to start a Fidelity HSA.

Yes, you do the transfer in your Fidelity account. It is pretty simple but the transfer might take a couple weeks to get to Fidelity. If you have money in the Schwab account, you need to transfer it in cash to HSA Bank before doing the transfer. If you do your own contributions to your HSA through payroll deduction, you can also set that up to go to Fidelity instead of HSA Bank.

Thank you for the info. Can you sweep the full amount to Fidelity without fee or penalty, or must you leave a token balance in HSA Bank for safety? I'm not sure it could be possible in all plans to redirect payroll deductions straight to Fidelity. How would one go about this? Seems like something the benefits department at one's employer would have to support and bless. I don't see it happening at my employer. Unless I'm fundamentally misunderstanding the process (which is possible).

I probably should have said I was also a federal employee like the poster that asked the question. I think we might get fees waived because of that. I do leave a few cents in HSA bank just so it doesn't get closed. To do the payroll deduction, I just need to enter the routing and account number in the portal. Feds can have different portals depending on where the work. The things you brought up might be different for you.

[ma2jo]

Retired and no longer make contributions to HSA and now have investments in SchwabHSA (ex Ameritrade). Not sure what "sell only would mean". Does that imply that I cannot roll over a CD or buy with proceeds from dividends etc?. Or does that mean there is only a oneway transfer back to HSABank?.
Secondly if forced to liquidate funds to cash I think I will be liable to a huge capital gain taxation in California unless a transfer in kind--Correct?

[Baylor Boy]

Did you all receive notice of this? When and how? My company uses HSAbank and I haven't received any notice from either that I recall. I went back and searched both work and personal email and found nothing.

I'm also wondering if my company's relationship is different and not affected. I keep a cash balance with HSAbank for any real medical needs and automatically push the excess to Schwab.

This is clearly being done to increase AUM for additional fees for HSAbank. Even if I can invest the same, I don't want another brokerage site to manage. I'm just now getting down to only Schwab and Vanguard.

[yakk0]

I got the postcard notifying of the change today as well. Ideally I would transfer my investments to Fidelity, however I'm in CA which taxes HSA gains. Does anyone have a creative solution to transfer ETFs (VTI and SPTM) out of Schwab/HSABank to Fidelity without incurring capital gains? Like others here I don't trust HSABank to provide us with consumer-friendly options, and am annoyed that they sprung this on us with so little notification.

[yakk0]

Did you all receive notice of this? When and how? My company uses HSAbank and I haven't received any notice from either that I recall. I went back and searched both work and personal email and found nothing.

It was literally a postcard in the mail with a link to the site in the first post here. I check my HSABank account approximately every other week. No e-mail, notice or indication of anything changes until the postcard.

[Baylor Boy]

Hmm, I could have missed that as junk mail. That is very odd as a sole way to communicate today.

[ma2jo]

No mention on my account online and no card in mail today. I still am trying to understand "sell only" ....any ideas?

[Feldman]

I think it would mean you could not buy additional positions in the Schwab brokerage window. They will restrict it so that you can only sell to cash and transfer back out to HSA Bank. In this relationship, Schwab is the service provider to HSA Bank (until it isn't), but HSA Bank makes the rules.

[DawgFan2001]

Anyone have experience with Health Equity's investment option? I recently changed jobs, so went from HSA Bank to Health Equity. I guess I could liquidate and move all to Health Equity to have a consolidated account. If I'm not contributing any longer to HSA Bank and Schwab, is the real issue for me whether I'll let the current investment allocations stay as is?

Wow, MoneyOCD with your $200k+. Curious how long it took to get there.

[forkhorn]

I have an HSA through HSA Bank, and use Schwab as the investment option. I got a mailer today informing me that as of September, I would no longer be able to do anything with the Schwab account except sit on it or sell. All new money would have to go into a private-label HSA Bank investment option, and any cash in the Schwab account would automatically go back into the HSA Bank cash account. I'm sure I will use what they are callling the new "Choice" option, but I cannot find any real info on how the program will work.

I assume more info will be forthcoming in the next month or two, but does anyone have more information now? I'm a federal employee, and the HSA is associated with my federal HDHP. I guess that could matter; maybe there are different choices for those in different employer plans.

Any info out there to point me to, or must I just wait and see?

[forkhorn's thread has been merged with this on-going discussion. Moderator Pops1860]

[Feldman]

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=436041

[whodidntante]

Anyone have experience with Health Equity's investment option? I recently changed jobs, so went from HSA Bank to Health Equity. I guess I could liquidate and move all to Health Equity to have a consolidated account. If I'm not contributing any longer to HSA Bank and Schwab, is the real issue for me whether I'll let the current investment allocations stay as is?

Wow, MoneyOCD with your $200k+. Curious how long it took to get there.

If you move and intend to invest your money, fidelity is the way to go. I have a health equity account but I just do a custodian to custodian transfer each year to fidelity since it's free.

[PersonalFinanceJam]

Anyone have experience with Health Equity's investment option? I recently changed jobs, so went from HSA Bank to Health Equity. I guess I could liquidate and move all to Health Equity to have a consolidated account. If I'm not contributing any longer to HSA Bank and Schwab, is the real issue for me whether I'll let the current investment allocations stay as is?

Wow, MoneyOCD with your $200k+. Curious how long it took to get there.

It really depends on your employer. There are lots of ways for an employer to setup a fee structure with Health Equity so it's hard to generalize. In my account we have relatively low minimums before we are able to invest with many low cost investment options. I still choose to use Fidelity as my HSA provider and like another poster mentioned move my employer deposited money about once a year through a custodian to custodian transfer. If you are looking for a place to consolidate most people suggest Fidelity.

[Lyrrad]

Are you able to do an ACATS transfer from HSA Bank's Schwab brokerage account to Fidelity?

I think it's possible with HealthEquity's Schwab account.

This could be more useful if you're in a state that taxes HSAs like CA and NJ.

There appears to be a fee to do so, but perhaps Fidelity would reimburse if you ask.

[cspitzer]

The investment choices under the new HSA Invest program appear to be quite broad. The problem for me are the new annual fees, which are based on assets under administration (AUA) and which I copied below:

You may enroll in multiple investment options, but you need to enroll one at a time.

Select
I prefer to manage my investments from a list of recommended funds selected by a registered investment advisor.

Annual fee:1 0.25% of AUA2

Choice

***
Annual fee:1 0.10% of AUA2

Only funds more than $1,000.00 in your HSA cash balance may be invested.
1HSA Invest annual fees are waived for any quarter when your average HSA cash balance for that quarter is $7,500 or more.
2Assets under administration (AUA) is calculated based on the value of invested assets at the end of each quarter.
Note: HSA Invest annual fees will be waived through 2024.

[jaMichael]

I wonder how much these minimums and fees might vary depending on your health plan’s agreement with HSA Bank. Currently, for instance, HSA Bank generally requires that $1000 in cash be maintained in the bank account, but that minimum does not apply to my health plan (GEHA HDHP). I am able to invest every dollar at Schwab as soon as it shows up in my HSA Bank account, without having to maintain any minimum at HSA Bank. I keep only 1 cent in my HSA Bank account.

[Feldman]

Not surprised they are pulling this crap. An AUM fee for self-managed investments pretty much cinches a move to Fidelity for me. But maybe I'm being too hard on them. Maybe 0.10% AUM is a small price to pay for the big touted benefit of a reduced number of logins. LOL! What a joke!

[ginstwin]

I also just received the "Postcard" with the news.
I am In CA and have 100k + in my Schwab HSA Investments. I would like to move it to Fidelity but obviously dont want to trigger the Capital Gains. Has anyone moved from HSA Bank to Fidelity and could guide me through the steps if possible. Much appreciated.

[cspitzer]

Not surprised they are pulling this crap. An AUM fee for self-managed investments pretty much cinches a move to Fidelity for me. But maybe I'm being too hard on them. Maybe 0.10% AUM is a small price to pay for the big touted benefit of a reduced number of logins. LOL! What a joke!

I don't think that you are being too hard on HSA Bank. We have most of our financial accounts at Fidelity. I was going to transfer my HSA Bank HSA to Fidelity when I retire (or leave my current employer). The latest changes by HSA Bank accelerated that move. I had a very good conversation with a Fidelity representative this morning. I opened a new Fidelity HSA afterwards. I am going to transfer my current HSA at HSA Bank to Fidelity in two steps. I am first going to do an kind kind transfer of my holdings in my Schwab HSA brokerage to Fidelity. I am next going to do a transfer of almost all of my cash balance at HSA Bank to Fidelity but keep the account open. Going forward, I am planning to do a periodic transfer of my cash balance at HSA Bank to Fidelity as the cash balance builds up.

[stan1]

Choice

***
Annual fee:1 0.10% of AUA2

Only funds more than $1,000.00 in your HSA cash balance may be invested.
1HSA Invest annual fees are waived for any quarter when your average HSA cash balance for that quarter is $7,500 or more.
2Assets under administration (AUA) is calculated based on the value of invested assets at the end of each quarter.
Note: HSA Invest annual fees will be waived through 2024.

What is the current yield on the cash account?
Sounds like the free lunch is being taken away but Fidelity still offers one.

[scotchbriar]

So glad I transferred my HSA Bank account over to a Fidelity HSA within the past month. Took a few tries as HSA bank told me they never got the original request from Fido, which I highly doubt. The people at Fidelity were great by sending things a second time, this time tracking the delivery, confirming with HSA Bank that they received it, letting me know that HSA bank received it, etc. The customer service person at Fido I worked with was outstanding! HSA Bank told me it would take 4-6 weeks to transfer, ended up being 3-weeks.

[ginstwin]

So glad I transferred my HSA Bank account over to a Fidelity HSA within the past month. Took a few tries as HSA bank told me they never got the original request from Fido, which I highly doubt. The people at Fidelity were great by sending things a second time, this time tracking the delivery, confirming with HSA Bank that they received it, letting me know that HSA bank received it, etc. The customer service person at Fido I worked with was outstanding! HSA Bank told me it would take 4-6 weeks to transfer, ended up being 3-weeks.

Do you have the reps details ? I would like to use them .

[keystone]

Well none of this sounds good. For those of us who are in the GEHA HDHP plan for federal employees, I assume we cannot fully bypass HSA Bank because that is where (at a minimum) the GEHA pass through contributions must go to?

I have payroll deductions going to HSA Bank as well and I routinely transfer those to Schwab. If I am understanding correctly, we cannot send payroll deductions directly to Schwab, so if we want to invest the funds while avoiding HSA Bank, I would have to choose another HSA like Fidelity for payroll deductions?

Does anyone know if the .1% AUM fee is in addition to the underlying investment fees or is this the total fee that one would pay to invest at HSA Bank?

[stilllurking]

Has anyone successfully completed an ACAT transfer from a Schwab HSBA account to Fidelity HSA? I'm still employed by the company offering HSA Bank/Schwab. I was hoping to not be out of the market.

[3cat]

I wonder how much these minimums and fees might vary depending on your health plan’s agreement with HSA Bank. Currently, for instance, HSA Bank generally requires that $1000 in cash be maintained in the bank account, but that minimum does not apply to my health plan (GEHA HDHP). I am able to invest every dollar at Schwab as soon as it shows up in my HSA Bank account, without having to maintain any minimum at HSA Bank. I keep only 1 cent in my HSA Bank account.

I'm in same health plan. My HSA Bank account shows $0.00 is the required minimum for cash balance but $7500 is the required minimum cash balance to waive the 0.1% annual fee. Unless the cash balance pays interest (no indication one way or the other), I think it is more cost-effective to pay the 0.1% rather than leave $7500 uninvested. I assume I have to leave the money with HSA bank until I retire?

[Astevens2546]

Has anyone successfully completed an ACAT transfer from a Schwab HSBA account to Fidelity HSA? I'm still employed by the company offering HSA Bank/Schwab. I was hoping to not be out of the market.

I completed a transfer of my invested funds from Schwab to Fidelity a week ago. Stocks and mutual funds transferred in-kind. The total process took about 2 weeks. I did an exchange of SWPPX for FXAIX after the funds were in my fidelity account. This gave me a warning message stating a same-day exchanges could not be done, and that it would take 2 total days to process. End of Day 1, SWPPX sold. End of Day 2 FXAIX was purchased.

My employer contributions (GEHA HDHP Federal plan) still go into HSA bank as cash, with my personal contributions going directly to fidelity via payroll deduction.

I still need to work out how (and how often) to transfer employer contributions in the future.

[stilllurking]

Has anyone successfully completed an ACAT transfer from a Schwab HSBA account to Fidelity HSA? I'm still employed by the company offering HSA Bank/Schwab. I was hoping to not be out of the market.

I completed a transfer of my invested funds from Schwab to Fidelity a week ago. Stocks and mutual funds transferred in-kind. The total process took about 2 weeks. I did an exchange of SWPPX for FXAIX after the funds were in my fidelity account. This gave me a warning message stating a same-day exchanges could not be done, and that it would take 2 total days to process. End of Day 1, SWPPX sold. End of Day 2 FXAIX was purchased.

My employer contributions (GEHA HDHP Federal plan) still go into HSA bank as cash, with my personal contributions going directly to fidelity via payroll deduction.

I still need to work out how (and how often) to transfer employer contributions in the future.

Just what I wanted to hear. Thanks. I've opened my Fidelity HSA and initiated a partial transfer from it. I have SWPPX that I left there for now.

Fidelity let you sell SWPPX without a fee?

[MillennialFinance19]

Awesome thread! You just reminded me that I needed to transfer my current balance over to Fidelity... which was surprisingly simple on the Fidelity app. Thanks!

[Astevens2546]

Has anyone successfully completed an ACAT transfer from a Schwab HSBA account to Fidelity HSA? I'm still employed by the company offering HSA Bank/Schwab. I was hoping to not be out of the market.

I completed a transfer of my invested funds from Schwab to Fidelity a week ago. Stocks and mutual funds transferred in-kind. The total process took about 2 weeks. I did an exchange of SWPPX for FXAIX after the funds were in my fidelity account. This gave me a warning message stating a same-day exchanges could not be done, and that it would take 2 total days to process. End of Day 1, SWPPX sold. End of Day 2 FXAIX was purchased.

My employer contributions (GEHA HDHP Federal plan) still go into HSA bank as cash, with my personal contributions going directly to fidelity via payroll deduction.

I still need to work out how (and how often) to transfer employer contributions in the future.

Just what I wanted to hear. Thanks. I've opened my Fidelity HSA and initiated a partial transfer from it. I have SWPPX that I left there for now.

Fidelity let you sell SWPPX without a fee?

Correct, no Fee.

I specifically initiated an exchange, and was not charged. Maybe there is a fee to do a straight sell, I am not sure. I did not manually sell Swppx, then manually buy FXAIX. It went through as an exchange, just taking 2 total days.

[jaMichael]

I wonder how much these minimums and fees might vary depending on your health plan’s agreement with HSA Bank. Currently, for instance, HSA Bank generally requires that $1000 in cash be maintained in the bank account, but that minimum does not apply to my health plan (GEHA HDHP). I am able to invest every dollar at Schwab as soon as it shows up in my HSA Bank account, without having to maintain any minimum at HSA Bank. I keep only 1 cent in my HSA Bank account.

I'm in same health plan. My HSA Bank account shows $0.00 is the required minimum for cash balance but $7500 is the required minimum cash balance to waive the 0.1% annual fee. Unless the cash balance pays interest (no indication one way or the other), I think it is more cost-effective to pay the 0.1% rather than leave $7500 uninvested. I assume I have to leave the money with HSA bank until I retire?

I agree it probably makes sense to pay the .1%. I am hoping GEHA/OPM will find another custodian. I keep my HSA funds in Berkshire Hathaway stock and SNSXX because neither produces taxable income (an issue for California residents, since CA treats HSAs as taxable accounts). I don't know if the "Choice" investment option will include similar options.