Fidelity offers individual HSA accounts?

[zinger1457]

Moving on up.
Screw Optum bank.
Screw my credit union.

What issues have you had with Optum? I originally had my HSA with Wells Fargo but they sold their HSA business to Optum so have been with them the last few years. I haven't had any issues. No monthly fees and a decent selection of investment funds (Vanguard) to choose from.

 

[MBSC]

For those wanting to transfer an HSA Bank/TDA account to Fidelity, someone at Bogleheads dug up an old thread outlining the method used last year when transferring to Lively was popular. This method was developed after learning the in kind transfer from TDA took about 5 days but the cash transfer from HSA Bank took 6-8 weeks to complete.

1. Move all the cash sitting in HSA Bank to the TDA investment account first. Do not buy any securities, just let it remain cash. This way everything will be at TDA before the transfer and you don't have to submit two separate transfer requests (HSA Bank and TDA). This takes about 2 days.
2. Then establish new account at Fidelity.
3. Have Fidelity initiate the in-kind online transfer from TDA. This takes about 5 days. There is no form to mail in since there is nothing at HSA Bank to transfer. This avoids the 6-8 week bank transfer process.
4. Once the cash and investments are at Fidelity, you can close the HSA Bank account. The account closure fee is not applied since there are no funds in the account.

Certain securities, such as Vanguard Admiral funds, cannot transfer in-kind.

 

[davebarnes]

What issues have you had with Optum?.

$3/mo

 

[sengsational]

I'll probably wait until January to switch. That way, you guys will flush out any "gotchas", hehe!

 

[45th Birthday]

For those wanting to transfer an HSA Bank/TDA account to Fidelity, someone at Bogleheads dug up an old thread outlining the method used last year when transferring to Lively was popular. This method was developed after learning the in kind transfer from TDA took about 5 days but the cash transfer from HSA Bank took 6-8 weeks to complete.

1. Move all the cash sitting in HSA Bank to the TDA investment account first. Do not buy any securities, just let it remain cash. This way everything will be at TDA before the transfer and you don't have to submit two separate transfer requests (HSA Bank and TDA). This takes about 2 days.
2. Then establish new account at Fidelity.
3. Have Fidelity initiate the in-kind online transfer from TDA. This takes about 5 days. There is no form to mail in since there is nothing at HSA Bank to transfer. This avoids the 6-8 week bank transfer process.
4. Once the cash and investments are at Fidelity, you can close the HSA Bank account. The account closure fee is not applied since there are no funds in the account.

Certain securities, such as Vanguard Admiral funds, cannot transfer in-kind.

This is a great idea, thank you!

 

[sengsational]

This is a great idea, thank you!

Won't work as well for Elements Financial since the transfer costs $16 or something.

 

[zinger1457]

$3/mo

I've never had any fees charged to my HSA account by Optum since it moved over from Wells Fargo. Must be some minimum balance account fee.

 

[njhowie]

Wow! This is very big news. It took about 30 seconds to open our new HSA accounts within our existing Fidelity accounts. Our transfer/closure forms are in the mail to Elements today.

This is just wonderful, because with Fidelity, there are no fees just for having the HSA and no additional fees for "investing" whereas most all HSAs charge fees for the privilege.

Our HSAs were with Elements specifically because there were no fees, even though we were accepting the piddly 0.5% yield on savings. Now, worst case, we can have 3% CDs.

 

[Scuba]

Correct.

Thanks, I thought so but just wanted to check. Would love to be able to fund an HSA, but don’t want to give up our pre-ACA grandfathered healthcare plan.

 

[RunningBum]

Wow, that was easy to open. I already have my DAF and pension thru Fido so it used that account. Not quite ready to transfer but it was easy to set up and come back to when I am ready. Further has low costs but it's hard and confusing to switch between the base account and investment account. Plus they started charging me $1/month for the base account for some reason. So I'm moving the investment back to the base, in cash, and will pull from Fidelity.

 

[pb4uski]

I dropped our transfer forms off with Fidelity on Friday afternoon and had a nice talk with the guy at Fidelity. He confirmed that they could not transfer in-kind my Vanguard Total Stock Admiral Shares and that I needed to sell them and have the proceeds trnsferred and that made sense.

I got online at HealthSavings Administrators and ordered the sales on Friday night.

Now when I log into our accounts on the home page I get:

Pending Transfer Out - Effective date Nov 19, 2018 (Expect to see changes in 3-4 business days)

and on the manage investments page it shows:

Notice - You already have pending transaction(s). You cannot initiate another until existing transactions have been posted. (Expect to see changes in 3-4 business days)

I call HealthSavings Administrators to confirm that they have everything that they need... after a lot of fumbling around they say that they think that they do but that it may take 4-6 weeks! WTF!

I'll keep you posted.

I hope they are wrong on the 4-6 weeks, but either way I am glad to be rid of these bozos.

 

[JustCurious]

I call HealthSavings Administrators to confirm that they have everything that they need... after a lot of fumbling around they say that they think that they do but that it may take 4-6 weeks! WTF!

I suspect that Health Savings Administrators is being bombarded with requests to transfer to Fidelity.

 

[pb4uski]

I think you are right... I'm guessing there may be a bit of a panic behind the scenes but on the other hand, I think we here are early adopters and probably just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[COHgirl]

Happy to say I opened my HSA today. We are already Fidelity customers. I opened it through the website. I gave my husband Full Authority and we dropped those papers at the Fidelity office. We went back to the website and made the transfer from our brokerage account to the HSA. The transfer is pending but it should be done by tomorrow.

That was easy!

 

[travelover]

..........I hope they are wrong on the 4-6 weeks, but either way I am glad to be rid of these bozos.

I'm in the same spot and yes, I can't wait to be rid of these idiots. I just hope it doesn't end up costing me a couple thousand bucks.

 

[45th Birthday]

I opened Fidelity HSA accounts for myself and my wife. It was easy. We had accounts at HSA Bank and companion accounts at TD Ameritrade to invest in ETFs. I transferred the TD Ameritrade when opening the account, and it appears to be a transfer in kind and all done online. Then I did an additional transfer from HSA Bank, which is just in cash. This required a printed form (FIDO pre-filled it) to be mailed in. I was informed that this is because it is a transfer from a bank. Fidelity is not a bank but a brokerage firm, so this might be the reason for the printed form.

Update: Fidelity called because TD Ameritrade rejected the transfer because they wanted a letter of authorization. Didn't specify from whom.

Called TD Ameritrade. They were waiting for a letter of authorization from HSA Bank, which they now have. Given that all this transpired in less than two business days, it is apparent TD Ameritrade should have requested the letter from HSA Bank and waited a day or two before rejecting the transfer. Tried to explain this to the TD Ameritrade rep but didn't get anywhere.

Anyway, just needed Fidelity to re-institute the transfer request and we should be good. Will be glad to be rid of both HSA Bank and TD Ameritrade.

 

[pb4uski]

Update: Balances are "Transferred Out" from looking at HealthSavings Administrators website... transferred out on 11/19.... not yet in Fidelity. Will check again tomorrow. Since this is a down day I've actually benefitted.

 

[stepford]

Does anyone know how to fund a Fidelity HSA directly from one's taxable Fidelity account? I'm in a qualified HDHP, haven't made my $4450 HSA contribution yet and would prefer to just put the money in a new Fido HSA. I can't see how to do this. Am I not to fund an HSA this way?

 

[audreyh1]

Does anyone know how to fund a Fidelity HSA directly from one's taxable Fidelity account? I'm in a qualified HDHP, haven't made my $4450 HSA contribution yet and would prefer to just put the money in a new Fido HSA. I can't see how to do this. Am I not to fund an HSA this way?

Usually you can link Fidelity accounts - or they are already linked. Can you try starting a transfer, and then select the taxable account as the source, and the HSA account as the destination?

 

[stepford]

Usually you can link Fidelity accounts - or they are already linked. Can you try starting a transfer, and then select the taxable account as the source, and the HSA account as the destination?

I couldn't find a way to do this online, emailed my Fido Private Client rep and he said the only way to fund it is via paycheck deductions (not much good to me since I no longer get a paycheck). I'm hoping that's not correct.

 

[travelover]

I couldn't find a way to do this online, emailed my Fido Private Client rep and he said the only way to fund it is via paycheck deductions (not much good to me since I no longer get a paycheck). I'm hoping that's not correct.

That has to be wrong. Worst case transfer cash into a bank account, then transfer to HSA account.

 

[stepford]

That has to be wrong. Worst case transfer cash into a bank account, then transfer to HSA account.

Agreed. There are brute force work-arounds like adding funds to my existing HealthEquity HSA and then transferring to Fido. I just thought (hoped) there would be some easier, more rational, method.

 

[audreyh1]

I couldn't find a way to do this online, emailed my Fido Private Client rep and he said the only way to fund it is via paycheck deductions (not much good to me since I no longer get a paycheck). I'm hoping that's not correct.

Uh-oh! Huh? That can’t be correct now that they’ve created direct retail HSA accounts no longer linked to an employer.

 

[audreyh1]

In that bogleheads link listed above, there is a number to talk directly with the Fidelity HSA department. They should be able to explain how to contribute to the account. No way it’s from paycheck only - that’s just from the old days when Fidelity only offered HSA accounts through employers.

 

[pb4uski]

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.

Update: Balances are "Transferred Out" from looking at HealthSavings Administrators website... transferred out on 11/19.... not yet in Fidelity. Will check again tomorrow. Since this is a down day I've actually benefitted.