Fidelity offers individual HSA accounts?

[eroscott]

Before anyone else goes and does the research like I did...

This HSA is only offered to folks with a high-deductible health plan.

About half-way down this page, they define HDHPs:
...
Many folks on here have HDHPs, I'm sure. Mine doesn't meet the requirement, however.

It is in the FAQ in more deal. Looks like they left out 'in' in the second question as they are both the same question -- I sent them an email on it.

https://www.fidelity.com/go/hsa/faqs

 

[audreyh1]

It is in the FAQ in more deal. Looks like they left out 'in' in the second question as they are both the same question -- I sent them an email on it.

https://www.fidelity.com/go/hsa/faqs

Good to see that they fixed their error on the max OOP for HSA eligible plans.

 

[RunningBum]

Via that website:


I'm a little confused by the underlined point. If your paycheck annual total is $40K of after-tax money and then take $3500 of that and put it in your HSA for 2019 ... how do you avoid paying federal tax You already paid the federal tax in your $40K net/aftertax paychecks. [$3500 2019 number from here: https://www.fidelity.com/go/hsa/how-to-contribute]

I thought maybe when you did your taxes in April 2020 for 2019. However, based on these tax forms I don't see which one would do that.

Sorry if this is obvious and I'm missing something simple.

https://www.fidelity.com/go/hsa/faqs :

It reduced income on line 25 of the old 1040. I'm not sure where that is on the new forms. Like other income adjustments and deductions, if you overpaid on your paychecks (or other estimated tax payments), you'll get a refund.

 

[bizlady]

Had no problem signing up DH account. But mine defaulted because I had a Fidelity NetsBenefit account way back from a prev employer. (I don't have any other $ at FIDO and that account has long been zero blanace, DH does). Should I be concerned about the tie to the NetsBenefit account? Concerned that somehow this ties to a fee for the HSA.

 

[cathy63]

Had no problem signing up DH account. But mine defaulted because I had a Fidelity NetsBenefit account way back from a prev employer. (I don't have any other $ at FIDO and that account has long been zero blanace, DH does). Should I be concerned about the tie to the NetsBenefit account? Concerned that somehow this ties to a fee for the HSA.

Both of our accounts also had this situation. I don't think we'll know for sure about fees until we see whether or not they're taken out, but many people have had both NetBenefits and regular Fidelity Brokerage accounts for many years and I've never heard of Fidelity confusing the two, so I don't see why they should have trouble with HSAs.

 

[RunningBum]

Had no problem signing up DH account. But mine defaulted because I had a Fidelity NetsBenefit account way back from a prev employer. (I don't have any other $ at FIDO and that account has long been zero blanace, DH does). Should I be concerned about the tie to the NetsBenefit account? Concerned that somehow this ties to a fee for the HSA.

Mine is tied to NetBenefits too, for an old pension. My DAF is also tied in. I like it because I've got all three with one access. So far I haven't seen any problems or fees, unless this is why it's taken so long for some things to happen.

Speaking of which, I was just set to call Fidelity and see about the bank account I can transfer to, but not from. Went to verify before calling, and there it was. So it took them 10 days to finally get it, which is ridiculous, IMO, especially since I could transfer to it a few days ago. So no real problems yet with Fidelity, but I'm not impressed with the speed at which things have happened.

The transfer into Fido was clear that it's a contribution, showing the limits for 2018 and 2019 and everything.

 

[sengsational]

So it looks like this isn't going to be very "tidy" because it seems that we can't close and transfer concurrently; we are limited to transferring the money in the cash position as of a few days prior. That means that the accrued interest will post at the end of the month and leave something that needs to be transferred or otherwise disposed of. I say disposed of because a transfer costs $25, and the interest will be under a buck*. Obviously, I'm not worried getting this sub-dollar amount, but I'm curious how they handle those excess funds.

The PilotHSA finally showed the cleared funds, so I initiated the transfer. Just for kicks, I rounded-up to the next dollar, going beyond the existing balance by $0.84, and the system accepted the amount! Then I went over to the TDAmeritrade site and wrote an email to the support team saying that I wanted to close the account and the value is meant to signify "all funds" after the interest is posted. We'll see. I figure there's a reasonable chance that when the batch job runs, the transfer will be rejected and I'll need to start over again.

 

[foxfirev5]

After mulling over transferring my Optum HSA to Fidelity i decided to start the process. However to my surprise I see that my particular Optum plan has recently added Vanguard Institutional class funds and has no fees. I guess I'll stay put. Competition is good.

 

[sengsational]

I figure there's a reasonable chance that when the batch job runs, the transfer will be rejected and I'll need to start over again.

That's what happened. The transfer request was a few cents too high.


I did figure out that I'm making $0.25/day in interest, and I just called PilotHSA (managing Elements Financial HSA) and gave them the balance as of now, and the fact that they need to add $0.25/day. They said they're going to have the operations desk call me.


I mailed the forms into Fidelity last week and was worried they'd transfer the bank balance only, but luckily, the status of the transfer at Fidelity still says "Paperwork Not Yet Received". Just in case, I called Elements directly and they put a note on my HSA account to wait for the TD Ameritrade transfer before going ahead with the Fidelity transfer. You'd think they'd have a simple way to clean-out / close an account!


EDIT: Got a call back from PilotHSA, they said the transfer of the entire balance would happen today or tomorrow!

 

[zinger1457]

After mulling over transferring my Optum HSA to Fidelity i decided to start the process. However to my surprise I see that my particular Optum plan has recently added Vanguard Institutional class funds and has no fees. I guess I'll stay put. Competition is good.

I have invested in Vanguard funds at Optum since 2016 when they bought out Wells Fargo HSA and my account transferred to Optum. I've been happy with Optum so far, no monthly fees, good investment options, web site works, easy to get money in/out, have gotten good support the couple of times I've had issues/questions.

 

[travelover]

Hallelujah - Fido called today and the funds have finally, finally make it from HSA Administrators to Fido. I don't even want to know what I ended up being charged, I'm just happy to be gone from there. Total process - two months.

 

[pjigar]

I transferred from employer HSA to Fidelity. Took almost a month. I am glad I am out. Old HSA (Health Equity) charged 0.02% every MONTH for privilege of investing in top of normal expense of the funds.

 

[sengsational]

Got a call back from PilotHSA, they said the transfer of the entire balance would happen today or tomorrow! (Tuesday or Wednesday)

All the money is out of the TDAmeritrade as of this morning (Thursday), including $1.70 of interest, leaving a zero balance there. I'm convinced, though, that you have to call, and when the regular rep says they can transfer it for you or you can do it yourself using the web site, you need to keep insisting that they escalate it in the case of a request to close the brokerage account. On my first call, I wasn't insistent enough and wasted time.



On the Fidelity side, it says they sent the paperwork to Elements on Tuesday.

 

[pb4uski]

I'm so disappointed in Fido's service, which I had heard from others on this forum to be excellent. they have dropped the ball two times in the transfer of my PenFed IRA to them.

First, they failed to notice that I signed my name differently from the name the accounts were registered (I signed pb4uski, Jr. rather than pb4uski... and technically I am a Jr.) when I submitted my transfer paperwork... PenFed noticed it and sent it back to them... that caused delay. Why wouldn't Fidelity's specialists noticed it before it was sent to PenFed?

Now, Fidelity allegedly sent the transfer request to Penfed on Jan 1 and I contacted Penfed today and they have still not received it. I called Fidelity and gave them a fax number that PenFed gave to me and they said that they will do it today. I also requested that they then call PenFed and confirm that PenFed received the request and secure email me that it is all set and you would think that I was asking for the world.

Very disappointing. Perhaps I should have just reinvested in 3.5% 5-year PenFed CDs and accepted the onerous early withdrawal penalty.

It was a long hard slog, but I finally got my IRA money transferred from PenFed to Fidelity. It was Keystone cops on both sides of the transfer.

Fidelity told me that this request included instructions for both sending a check and wiring the money but when I called PenfFed and they confirmed that they had received the transfer request I told them that I would like for it to be wired and I woudl pay the wiring fee and they said that they could do that but that Fidelity's transfer request did not include wiring instructions. Also, they couldn't take the $20 wiring fee out of the proceeds... or at least that wasn't easiest so I had to do a $20 transfer from my local bank account to my Penfed savings account so the could take it out of that savings account. In any event, after two calls with PenFed and one with Fidelity everything was set to wire the money. That was on Friday.

On Sunday I notice that PenFed sent me an email on Saturday with a subject line of "We need to speak to you" so I call them. They then tell me that they messed up and sent a check instead of a wire. I asked that they stop payment on the check and then do a wire as they were supposed to and the CSR said that they could do that.

So Monday afternoon rolls around and I check my Fidelity account and nothing is there. I call PenFed and they said that they needed to wait for some sort of confirmation of the stop payment on the check and that may take 24-48 hours.

Anywho, the wire was finally done on Tuesday afternoon and Fidelity promptly credited my account... so done finally on January 15, 2019... almost a full month after my PenFed CDs matured.

 

[USGrant1962]

Because my HealthEquity HSA was tied to my COBRA insurance I delayed starting the transfer to Fido until this year (COBRA expired 12/31).

I mailed the forms on Jan 2, Fido account shows received and request sent to HealthEquity, and got a note from HealthEquity that a transfer request was received on January 11. Fido forecasts complete by Jan 29. So far so good.

 

[ocean view]

Thanks to everyone for their advice on how to move to Fidelity from HSA Administrators as easily as possible.

I have one more tip of my own to add to the process - transfer all of your funds electronically (not by check with a $10 check fee) to your bank before initiating the account closure process. HSA Admin normally charges a $25 account closure fee, but when I told them my account was empty, the CR rep said they waive the fee if the balance is zero and they won't come after you for it.

I completed my extraction in 7 business days (sale of VG funds and withdrawal of cash). It then took a couple days for Fidelity to credit my account with the deposit. I took a check and deposit form to my local branch and was told that they were not able to accept an HSA deposit. It would have to be mailed to the Ohio office, however, they were happy to do that for me. In 48 hours, the funds were in my account, properly coded as an indirect rollover and invested in my chosen MF. 9 business days total, start to finish. Glad to be done with HSA Admins.

 

[pb4uski]

...I took a check and deposit form to my local branch and was told that they were not able to accept an HSA deposit. It would have to be mailed to the Ohio office, however, they were happy to do that for me. In 48 hours, the funds were in my account, properly coded as an indirect rollover and invested in my chosen MF. 9 business days total, start to finish. Glad to be done with HSA Admins.

That's odd. I had HSA Administrators send me a check. Then I took the check into my local Fidelity office and deposited it the same that I would a bank deposit only they earmarked the deposit as a HSA rollover deposit for tax purposes. The money showed up in my account later that day and was good funds that I culd use for trading a day or two later.

 

[sengsational]

All the money is out of the TDAmeritrade as of this morning (Thursday 1/17), including $1.70 of interest, leaving a zero balance there. On the Fidelity side, it says they sent the paperwork to Elements on Tuesday 1/15.

Two weeks after they got the paperwork, today, 1/29, the funds became available at Fidelity.


So I sold my position at the HSA's brokerage on 1/8. Then there was the snafu with closing the brokerage and getting the entire balance with interest back to Elements Financial. But that appears not to have slowed anything down. I mailed the forms to Fidelity on 1/10.



So about 3 weeks, from first action to done.

 

[audreyh1]

Two weeks after they got the paperwork, today, 1/29, the funds became available at Fidelity.


So I sold my position at the HSA's brokerage on 1/8. Then there was the snafu with closing the brokerage and getting the entire balance with interest back to Elements Financial. But that appears not to have slowed anything down. I mailed the forms to Fidelity on 1/10.



So about 3 weeks, from first action to done.

OK - thanks!

 

[USGrant1962]

Because my HealthEquity HSA was tied to my COBRA insurance I delayed starting the transfer to Fido until this year (COBRA expired 12/31).

I mailed the forms on Jan 2, Fido account shows received and request sent to HealthEquity, and got a note from HealthEquity that a transfer request was received on January 11. Fido forecasts complete by Jan 29. So far so good.

While we're updating - Fido/HealthEquity completed my transfer on Jan 28, one day before Fido's forecast. So I avoid the next HealthEquity monthly fee - all's good.

Now where to invest the HSA? I plan to leave it untouched except for a true medical black swan. I'm leaning towards a healthcare sector ETF. I've made a ton of money over the last 25 years in Vanguard's Healthcare mutual fund and I don't see the demographics getting any "worse" for that kind of fund, regardless of the extremist talk from some wannabe Presidential candidates.

 

[eroscott]

This may be "common knowledge" ...
Not sure if anyone here has adult children still under their parents HSA-eligible HDHP *and* are not IRS tax dependent ... ie. have their own job paying 4.5K+.

We are in this situation and want to help one of our children who is a saver/budgeter and saving hard for a townhouse purchase. We will help with the HSA contributions.

1) The adult children can contribute to their own HSA the full family amount ($6900-2018; $7000-2019).
2) The adult children can contribute to their 2018 HSA until 15-Apr-2019.

In our example, that $10,400 ($6900+$3500). $3500 is for 6/12ths of 2019 as they will have their own health insurance (non-HSA eligible) in July.

In 35 years this could be worth over $110,000. Ala like an investment vehicle ROTH IRA which has tax-free withdrawals.

 

[Bir48die]

Any family member can contribute to another's HSA

 

[eroscott]

Any family member can contribute to another's HSA

Right, see this site/PDF from my previous post.

'A Guide to HSA Qualified Medical Expenses, Contributions, and Family Plans with Adult Children – Marotta On Money'

And IRS pub: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p969#en_US_2017_publink1000204083

Contributions to an HSA
Any eligible individual can contribute to an HSA. For an employee's HSA, the employee, the employee's employer, or both may contribute to the employee's HSA in the same year. For an HSA established by a self-employed (or unemployed) individual, the individual can contribute. Family members or any other person also may make contributions on behalf of an eligible individual.

 

[audreyh1]

Well, I guess I misinterpreted what "Transferred Out" meant... it didn't meant transferred out to Fidelity, it meant transferred out of the investments account and was later offset by a transfer into the cash account... so that this point both my and DW's HealthSavings Admnistrators HSAs are all in cash... waiting to be transferred to Fidelity.

You know you had some friggin awesome timing on this!

Just doing this now. Had to mail in forms.

So I need to go ahead and sell my mutual funds - go all cash at HSAA?

 

[coveredbridge]

Set up DW's HSA with Fidelity last week and made PY contribution by mailing check on Friday, it was posted to account Monday. Placed funds in MM for now, already earning 8-10x what is balance in employer HSA is earning. Mailed transfer request for balance from employer HSA today, hope it gets processed as fast as my check. Link to bank account for EFT is in process. Looking forward to seeing what Fidelity has to offer.