Fidelity offers individual HSA accounts?

[littleb]

It took 2 weeks for our HSA money to transfer from Optum to Fidelity. Fidelity's projected transfer date was 1/2/19 but the money deposited early on Dec 27. So happy to be rid of Optum.

 

[RunningBum]

My money has left Further. It could hit the 12/26 target date Fidelity gave me from the start. It may be faster than the transfer I did to Further earlier this year.

That post was on 12/18. I'm still waiting for the money to show up in my VG account. Yeah, holidays, but it's still over 2 weeks where my money has been in limbo. Seems ridiculous.

 

[travelover]

That post was on 12/18. I'm still waiting for the money to show up in my VG account. Yeah, holidays, but it's still over 2 weeks where my money has been in limbo. Seems ridiculous.

I feel your pain. I got a call from Fido yesterday asking if I'd heard from HSA Administrators, given that HSSA had told me on Dec 18th the check was cut and should be there in "a couple of days". Two calls back to HSSA today got me three answers as to when the check was sent - Dec. 27th being their final claim. I don't think HSSA could find their ass with two hands and a flashlight. Once my check clears, I will be sure to sing their praises on Yelp and anywhere else I can post. Bastards!

 

[jetpack]

For all you guys say about Fidelity, I've been having trouble contacting them the last few days. Secure Message Center
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[sengsational]

I opened my HSA with Fidelity on 1/1. Clicked through the whole thing in about 10 minutes, including setting up funding of my 2019 contribution of $8000.


I'll need to sell securities in the TD Ameritrade account associated with my Elements Financial HSA, then have them transfer those funds back to Elements. But I'm waiting to do that until the EFT goes through so I won't jostle my asset allocation (i.e. I will be selling with one hand and buying with the other).


Then I'll need to decide whether I'll have Fidelity initialize the transfer or if I'll just have Elements cut me a check and mail the check to Fidelity. I figure I'll get Elements on the phone and grill them about how long it would take to get a check, then ask them how long the process would take if Fidelity started the process of institution to institution.


Does anyone know if the previous HSA account administrator reports the same thing to the IRS whether the check is to me vs Fidelity (i.e. simply $X money removed)? I figured that the IRS could live with $X money removed if the receiving institution submitted an $X money transferred. It seems like it could work because the IRS would just net-out the removed amount from the old admin with the transferred amount at the new admin. It would be key to make sure the new admin codes it as a transfer, not new money, of course.

 

[cathy63]

We opened HSA accounts with Fidelity today and ran into a couple of minor glitches.

First, if you do not have a Fidelity brokerage account, but you have ever had a Fidelity NetBenefits account associated with some past or present megacorp employer, dig up that login and password and see if it you can still login to the NetBenefits site. If you have a valid NetBenefits login, then when you create the new HSA and it says it's taking you to the page where you can setup online access, you will instead see a page with a red error message box with no message in it. Once that happens, your NetBenefits login will also work at the main fidelity.com site and then you can login and fund your HSA.

The other issue was that I couldn't link my credit union checking account so I could fund my new HSA. In addition to the routing and account numbers, they also wanted the login and password for my CU account, and then they complained that the ownership info on the two accounts didn't match even though it absolutely does. We ended up funding both HSAs from a joint checking account we have at Chase, no login/pw required to link that one.

 

[jetpack]

Does anyone know if HSABank requires a Medallion Signature Guarantee on the transfer form? I thought that was usually only for large transactions.... I'm trying to make the process go smoothly, can't find the answer anywhere online.

 

[RunningBum]

That post was on 12/18. I'm still waiting for the money to show up in my VG account. Yeah, holidays, but it's still over 2 weeks where my money has been in limbo. Seems ridiculous.

My money finally showed up at Fidelity (not VG as I mistakenly said last post). They started on my paperwork on 11/30, though I think they received it a few days later.

I'm still waiting for them to set up my bank account for this year's contribution. I think I started that process on the first, which involved taking a picture of a deposit check for verification.

 

[Earl E Retyre]

I successfully moved my HSA Bank to Fidelity HSA. I think all in all it took about a month.

I sold my VTI in TD Ameritrade linked to HSA Bank about a month ago and moved into HSA Bank cash account. Then I transferred that to Fidelity HSA and just bought IVV S&P 500 in Fidelity today. It was about $30,000. I think I made around $3,000 gain due to stock market loss over that month.

 

[RunningBum]

Yeah, I 'm sure I did better being out of the market with that money, but when it dropped around Christmas I was really hoping to jump back in then. Oh well.

 

[Fishingmn]

Ours moved successfully from Elements to Fidelity in about 10 days (arrived last week as well). Thanks for the original post on this to make me aware of it!

 

[audreyh1]

I was waiting fo the new year to do this. Those of you who started the process a month ago and went to cash awaiting transfer lucked out!!!

 

[sengsational]

Then I'll need to decide whether I'll have Fidelity initialize the transfer or if I'll just have Elements cut me a check and mail the check to Fidelity.

Ours moved successfully from Elements to Fidelity in about 10 days (arrived last week as well). Thanks for the original post on this to make me aware of it!

If you got it done in 10 days, I'll go that route. Thanks for the report.

 

[travelover]

I was waiting for the new year to do this. Those of you who started the process a month ago and went to cash awaiting transfer lucked out!!!

Yea, that was me. Now when to get back in- if HSSA ever actually sends the check to Fido.

 

[fassmac]

I transfered from Healtequity to Fidelity. It took about 15 days total including mailing in the signed form.

 

[RunningBum]

Has anyone figured out how to make a 2019 contribution to the Fidelity HSA? I set up my bank but it only shows up as an option to transfer money to, not from. If I try to set it up again it is telling me that feature isn't available.

 

[fosterscik]

Has anyone figured out how to make a 2019 contribution to the Fidelity HSA? I set up my bank but it only shows up as an option to transfer money to, not from. If I try to set it up again it is telling me that feature isn't available.

I made my 2019 contribution on Jan 4. I don't recall having any problem. Used the "transfer" link in the top black header, selected my bank as "from", my new HSA as "to" and Fidelity pulled the funds as expected.

 

[RunningBum]

I made my 2019 contribution on Jan 4. I don't recall having any problem. Used the "transfer" link in the top black header, selected my bank as "from", my new HSA as "to" and Fidelity pulled the funds as expected.

I thought that would be the way. Frustrating because my bank doesn't show up as an option, even though I already went through the process. I found another transfer link--it includes my acct number in the URL so I'm not posting it--and it shows my bank but it's grayed out. Maybe the setup process is still not complete. If it's not there next week, I guess I'll contact them. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a method.

Given how slow Fidelity has been in this process, I'm not inclined to transfer my main investment accounts here. Plus there's the uncertainty of whether Fidelity is really going to recognize a transfer as a contribution, and generate the appropriate tax form.

 

[fosterscik]

The new account may explain it. Mine opened 12/4/18 so my 2019 contribution occurred a month later.

That went smoothly, but I had lots of "fun" completing my first Roth conversion at Fidelity in December. I wanted to roll IRA funds to an existing old Roth account. It took email to sort out why it wouldn't work. Turned out I had to open a new brokerage Roth account to get it to go. My old account number was alphanumeric; new account numbers are numerical only.

 

[gwraigty]

Given how slow Fidelity has been in this process, I'm not inclined to transfer my main investment accounts here. Plus there's the uncertainty of whether Fidelity is really going to recognize a transfer as a contribution, and generate the appropriate tax form.

Happy Fidelity customer for over 10 years here. We've had no trouble with our main investment accounts and had no trouble transferring our Roth IRAs from TDAmeritrade to Fidelity.

For the present, my DH's HSA will remain with PayFlex, as that's where his employer has chosen to deposit all contributions. When that's no longer a factor, we plan to transfer to Fidelity.

 

[RunningBum]

The new account may explain it. Mine opened 12/4/18 so my 2019 contribution occurred a month later.

I opened up my account a little before then, but didn't think about linking my bank account until I went to make a contribution on the 1st. Still, it should've happened by now.

Happy Fidelity customer for over 10 years here.

I know there are a lot of happy Fidelity customers. That's one reason I transferred my HSA over. Hopefully we're just off to a bad start and it'll get better, but I'm not happy right now.

 

[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.

 

[sengsational]

Ours moved successfully from Elements to Fidelity in about 10 days (arrived last week as well). Thanks for the original post on this to make me aware of it!

Did you have a TD Ameritrade account associated with your HSA? Also, did you need to get a "Medallion Signature Guarantee"? I guess that's driven by the sending institution, not Fidelity.


I liquidated my equity position at TD Ameritrade, and the funds cleared today, but when I called to have the TD Ameritrade account closed and to transfer the funds to the Elements Financial HSA cash account, they explained that their system (shows as pilothsa.com, but I get there through elements.org) was showing the cash as of a few days ago (before the trade settlement), and that this was normal.


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.






* Reminds me of a joke: What's the difference between "Beer Nuts" and "Deer Nuts"? Well, Beer Nuts are $1.29....

 

[cathy63]

Has anyone figured out how to make a 2019 contribution to the Fidelity HSA? I set up my bank but it only shows up as an option to transfer money to, not from. If I try to set it up again it is telling me that feature isn't available.

You probably have to contact Fidelity and ask them why your bank account is approved for transfers in one direction only. I posted earlier in this thread about a problem I had with linking my bank account. It's a credit union checking account and Fidelity wanted my login/pw for the credit union; then once it had that information, it complained that the owner on the CU account didn't match the HSA I had just opened, which is incorrect. I gave up on the CU account and setup a link from a joint Chase checking account instead. I found it interesting that Fidelity did not care about my Chase login/pw and only needed the routing number, account number, and whether it was checking or savings. I have no idea why they treat some institutions differently from others, but I suspect something went wrong in the setup with your bank.

Once I had the Chase account linked, I was able to initiate a transfer from the Fidelity account landing page instantly. It was literally only a couple of minutes after setting up the link. It took 2 business days before the funds showed up in the Fidelity accounts, but that was as expected.

 

[eroscott]

When you contribute via paycheck deductions, the contributions are exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxation.

https://budgeting.thenest.com/can-hsa-reduce-gross-taxable-income-payroll-statement-24716.html

Via that website:

Taxes // If you make a pretax contribution to your HSA,, it is not subject to federal income tax, Medicare tax or Social Security tax. If you pay on an after-tax basis, your contributions are subject to all of those taxes. However, when you file your tax return, you avoid paying federal income tax, but you are still responsible for Medicare or Social Security taxes. State income tax laws vary; therefore, check with your state revenue agency to know if your HSA funds are state – and, if applicable, local – tax free.

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 :

What tax forms can I expect to receive for my HSA?
1) Form 1099-SA reports all withdrawals, including charges to your HSA debit card, you have made from your HSA during the tax-year. You should report the withdrawal amounts from Form 1099-SA on Form 8889 only if you withdrew from your HSA.
2) Form 5498-SA summarizes your HSA contributions, holdings, and fair market value. This form is informational only and does not need to be filed with your taxes. Please refer to our tax information guide for further details.
3) Form 990T – Fidelity will complete and file this form on your behalf, if necessary. This form only applies to investments in limited partnerships, so most HSA owners should not expect to need or receive one of these.