HSA -- Seeking low fee Custodian

[omni550]

I had an HSA thru my mega-motors employer. Post-retirement, I left my HSA with their Custodian, as there were no account maintenance fees assessed to me.

I recently received a notice from the Custodian indicating that they will now be assessing various monthly fees:

Custody and Admin Fee..................................... $2.00/mo (for acct bals below $5K)
Add'l Admin fee after Separation of Employment....$3.95/mo
(Also a transfer fee of $16, waived until 10/1/16, if funds are moved to another Custodian)

I have about $13K on account. My annual fees would be just under $48/yr.

I would prefer to minimize my account fees and optimize my investment options.

I know there are many here who have HSA accounts. Which low fee Custodian do you favor and why? Also, any suggestions as how best to invest these HSA funds? (I've NOT been using this account to pay for my few medical expenses which consist of Medicare-related monthly fees.)

omni

 

[RunningBum]

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/hsa-accounts-74837.html has some info from almost 2 years ago. I still have kept my 0 fee 1.50% guaranteed rate credit union account.

 

[omni550]

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/hsa-accounts-74837.html has some info from almost 2 years ago. I still have kept my 0 fee 1.50% guaranteed rate credit union account.

Thanks, RunningBum!

omni

 

[Gotadimple]

Like Running Bum, I have kept the HSA account quoted in the link he provided.

HSA Bank still charges $2.50 a month to maintain an account, but has a $5,000 minimum balance waiver. So no fee if you keep $5,000 in the account and they pay .20% on the balance. This stills seems the lowest fee structure I have found, but, also check your credit union if you are eligible for one.

 

[Cobra9777]

A popular site for researching HSA custodians is hsasearch.com. SelectAccount seems to be a popular choice. For accounts your size, they offer self-directed brokerage through Schwab for $18/yr plus $1/mo for the "Thriftsaver" account type. So total fees would be $30/yr and you'd have access to the entire universe of investment choices. Seems to get great reviews for service as well.

My HSA is a brokerage account at Fidelity with no fees. But I don't think it's available for individuals. I opened the account via Megacorp before retiring. Evidently, keeping the account after retirement is no problem. I still have the same HDHP, which is also administered by Fidelity.

 

[pb4uski]

I'm with HealthSavings Administrators for Vanguard funds... they charge 25 bps a year but I think I'm better off than having that money sit in a lo interest rate savings account earning less than 1% but with no fees. I'm not all that keen about them and would consider alternative that offer Vanguard funds at a more reasonable cost.

 

[jonat]

I use my credit union. No fees, but not great interest.

 

[omni550]

Thanks, everyone! I love the folks on this forum for their knowledge and helpfulness.

Neither of my Credit Unions offer HSAs and I didn't feel like adding yet another CU.

I have opted to move my HSA funds to SelectAccount HSA's Thrift Saver.

omni

Save​

 

[easysurfer]

I'm with HealthSavings Administrators for the Vanguard funds. Not too crazy about HealthSavings Administrators' website and thought about going to another HSA (name escapes my memory) that also offered Vanguard funds. But that required I think a $1000 check balance before investing in funds. So, for me, no change is good enough for now.

 

[gauss]

Thanks everyone.

I went ahead and signed up with SelectAccount today. Since I already made my regular yearly contribution to my prior custodian, I could not use the SelectAccount web site to setup the account. It appeared that it required immediate funding that would be classified as an ordinary yearly contribution.

By calling in and describing my situation, the agent was able to quickly email me the following two pdf forms that I needed:
- Health Savings Account Application
- HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNT ROLLOVER CERTIFICATION

This allowed me to send in a check that would be classified as a "rollover contribution" after take a distribution from my old HSA and avoid HSA trustee-trustee transfers hassles. Since I have not made a 60 day HSA rollover in the past 365 days, this seemed like the best option to me.

-gauss