Fidelity offers individual HSA accounts?

[audreyh1]

So it might take 2 months for our transfers to happen from HSAA to Fidelity. I guess I’ll settle in for a long wait and the need to make a couple of calls eventually.

Fingers crossed - our HSA funds have more or less recovered from the late 2018 sell off, so hopefully going to cash for a couple of months now will be OK.

In the meantime we can make contributions for 2019.

 

[BooBoo]

Just transferred mine from UMB Bank to Fido. Fido received on 1/17/19 and I had to call UMB and have fido fax info because it was possible the address for mail was wrong ? I got the address from UMB website I use to access account. Check was mailed to Fido and 2/19 and deposited on 3/4/19. Glad to be rid of fees from UMB bank.

 

[gwraigty]

Has anyone opened up the Fidelity HSA while still having to maintain the employer-provided HSA? I'm rethinking my original position on this matter.

My husband can get better investment options/results/customer service with Fidelity than PayFlex offers. All contributions (employer and his paycheck deductions) would still have to go into the PayFlex HSA. I'm thinking they could be transferred to Fidelity on a somewhat regular basis to be determined.

Any flaws?

 

[pjigar]

Has anyone opened up the Fidelity HSA while still having to maintain the employer-provided HSA? I'm rethinking my original position on this matter.

My husband can get better investment options/results/customer service with Fidelity than PayFlex offers. All contributions (employer and his paycheck deductions) would still have to go into the PayFlex HSA. I'm thinking they could be transferred to Fidelity on a somewhat regular basis to be determined.

Any flaws?

I have done it this way. I transferred all but minimum balance required by the employer HSA provider. I plan to repeat this every quarter because this is a paper route process. I have to mail in a form to employer HSA and they mail check directly to Fidelity HSA.

 

[gwraigty]

I have done it this way. I transferred all but minimum balance required by the employer HSA provider. I plan to repeat this every quarter because this is a paper route process. I have to mail in a form to employer HSA and they mail check directly to Fidelity HSA.

Thanks! Interestingly, PayFlex only has a form to transfer funds from another HSA to them, not the other way around. We'd have to do it via Fidelity. No problem.

 

[pjigar]

Thanks! Interestingly, PayFlex only has a form to transfer funds from another HSA to them, not the other way around. We'd have to do it via Fidelity. No problem.

Call them first. Fidelity request might close the account which will result in account closure fee. The account will auto-reopen on next HSA deposit from employer though.

 

[gwraigty]

Call them first. Fidelity request might close the account which will result in account closure fee. The account will auto-reopen on next HSA deposit from employer though.

Looking at the Fidelity (PDF) form, it looks like you can request just a partial transfer.

 

[pb4uski]

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?

Yes... and then what I ended up doing and ended up being a lot quicker was to have them send me a check for the balance (full 100% withdrawal). When I received the check I took it to the Fidelity office and deposited it making sure that they coded it as a HSA rollover contribution. And of couse kept all the paperwork.

On my tax return I reported the HSA distributions and corresponding rollover contributions... Form 8889, lines 14a and 14b.

 

[pb4uski]

Has anyone opened up the Fidelity HSA while still having to maintain the employer-provided HSA? I'm rethinking my original position on this matter.

My husband can get better investment options/results/customer service with Fidelity than PayFlex offers. All contributions (employer and his paycheck deductions) would still have to go into the PayFlex HSA. I'm thinking they could be transferred to Fidelity on a somewhat regular basis to be determined.

Any flaws?

I think it might be easier to just periodically do a withdrawal from the employer provided HSA and then deposit those funds with Fidelity as a rollover contribution in the Fidelity HSA. He'll have to file a Form 8889 with your tax return to show the two transactions but that is easy to do.

 

[pb4uski]

So it might take 2 months for our transfers to happen from HSAA to Fidelity. I guess I’ll settle in for a long wait and the need to make a couple of calls eventually.

Fingers crossed - our HSA funds have more or less recovered from the late 2018 sell off, so hopefully going to cash for a couple of months now will be OK.

In the meantime we can make contributions for 2019.

Sorry, didn't see this until just now... see 2 posts above.. it should be quicker... see my posts 104, 116, 120 and 121 in this thread.

I did mine while a transfer request was in the mail and black box of Health Savings Administrators, so it isn't too late.

 

[audreyh1]

Yes... and then what I ended up doing and ended up being a lot quicker was to have them send me a check for the balance (full 100% withdrawal). When I received the check I took it to the Fidelity office and deposited it making sure that they coded it as a HSA rollover contribution. And of couse kept all the paperwork.

On my tax return I reported the HSA distributions and corresponding rollover contributions... Form 8889, lines 14a and 14b.

I don’t have a Fidelity office here so I’m going to do it the slow way.....

 

[ziggy29]

This got my attention. I had not heard this before.

I have an HSA from an old employer with HSA Bank. No fees, but I'm only getting 0.35% interest on it and the investment side of things seemed like crummy (trading fees and fund expenses). If I could seamlessly use a Fido MM account for a few grand of potential near-term expenses, combined with investing the balance for growth, that would seem close to ideal...

...for my existing balance from a prior employer, anyway. It doesn't look wise for us to contribute directly into a non-employer HSA for my wife's employment, though, since clergy are are considered self-employed for SECA purposes (but W-2 employees for income tax purposes) and, while cafeteria style employee contributions to an HSA *are* exempt from the 15.3% SECA tax, individual contributions from *outside* the cafeteria plan are subject to SECA tax (though still exempt from income tax). So it looks like we should probably continue to funnel new contributions into her HSA through the cafeteria plan.

 

[gwraigty]

I think it might be easier to just periodically do a withdrawal from the employer provided HSA and then deposit those funds with Fidelity as a rollover contribution in the Fidelity HSA. He'll have to file a Form 8889 with your tax return to show the two transactions but that is easy to do.

I do our taxes. I have to file Form 8889 every year anyway, to report the employer/employee contributions and any reimbursements when applicable. It's just a matter of filling out a couple of extra lines.

 

[gwraigty]

Well, never mind. My husband says it sounds too "painful". Even though I'd be doing the regular work behind it. Oh well. Guess it'll have to wait until he separates from his employer to do a complete rollover to a Fidelity HSA at that time. I appreciate all the responses and input anyway.

 

[gwraigty]

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.

Has anyone opened up the Fidelity HSA while still having to maintain the employer-provided HSA? I'm rethinking my original position on this matter.

My husband can get better investment options/results/customer service with Fidelity than PayFlex offers. All contributions (employer and his paycheck deductions) would still have to go into the PayFlex HSA. I'm thinking they could be transferred to Fidelity on a somewhat regular basis to be determined.

Any flaws?

Well, never mind. My husband says it sounds too "painful". Even though I'd be doing the regular work behind it. Oh well. Guess it'll have to wait until he separates from his employer to do a complete rollover to a Fidelity HSA at that time. I appreciate all the responses and input anyway.

Effective October 1st, Payflex is charging a monthly fee of .02% of investment balances. This is a game-changer. He'll still have to maintain the PayFlex HSA for employer/employee contributions, but he'll be opening up a Fidelity HSA now. PayFlex charges a ridiculous $25 fee for outgoing trustee to trustee transfers, so I'll tell him about the rollover option.

 

[gauss]

Fidelity paper PDF form has the details so that the rollover contribution can be coded appropriately. You will just need to take a distribution from the original HSA so that the tax reporting documents(1099sa AND 5498sa) match up. I just did this earlier this year.

 

[gwraigty]

Fidelity paper PDF form has the details so that the rollover contribution can be coded appropriately. You will just need to take a distribution from the original HSA so that the tax reporting documents(1099sa AND 5498sa) match up. I just did this earlier this year.

Thanks!

 

[JoeWras]

Anyone willing to share a coda on this? I never saw how Audreyh1's transfer went. Also, how is the FIDO HSA administration and all going?

I'm about to embark on this transfer. I'm already in cash at my existing. I wanted to do this earlier but life caught up with me. And this thread scared me into waiting for a quiet time I could manage any issues with the transfer.

 

[jimbee]

I transferred my HSA from Optum Bank to Fidelity last September. The transfer was smooth, it took about two weeks.

I have been charged no fees at Fidelity, and I have access to all funds as far as I can tell. I have my entire HSA balance invested, nothing is sitting in a bank-type account.

 

[JoeWras]

I transferred my HSA from Optum Bank to Fidelity last September. The transfer was smooth, it took about two weeks. I was able to do everything online.

I have been charged no fees at Fidelity, and I have access to all funds as far as I can tell. I have my entire HSA balance invested, nothing is sitting in a bank-type account.

Nice. For the online part, what were the steps at Fidelity? Open first, then transfer? I see the portal to open the account... I'm just trying to know what I'm in for before I go down the whole path.

 

[EQMAN]

After opening your next step is to fund it. Either by transfer from a Fidelity or an external account. Already did this for 2020. My first time using an HSA. Very easy.

 

[pb4uski]

I transferred my HSA from Optum Bank to Fidelity last September. The transfer was smooth, it took about two weeks.

I have been charged no fees at Fidelity, and I have access to all funds as far as I can tell. I have my entire HSA balance invested, nothing is sitting in a bank-type account.

+2... transferred in Dec 2018 from HSA Administrators and put the entire balance in FZROX FIDELITY ZERO TOTAL MARKET INDEX.

 

[jimbee]

I opened the account at Fidelity first, then I did the transfer.

There is a Transfer of Assets form to fill out. I electronically signed it with a mouse, and submitted the form via Fidelity's website, following their HSA transfer instructions.

I'm reconstructing this process from my saved forms, sorry if I'm missing any steps.

 

[JoeWras]

I opened the account at Fidelity first, then I did the transfer.

There is a Transfer of Assets form to fill out. I electronically signed it with a mouse, and submitted the form via Fidelity's website, following their HSA transfer instructions.

I'm reconstructing this process from my saved forms, sorry if I'm missing any steps.

Thanks! Time to take the plunge. This is great info. Thanks all.

 

[audreyh1]

Anyone willing to share a coda on this? I never saw how Audreyh1's transfer went. Also, how is the FIDO HSA administration and all going?

I'm about to embark on this transfer. I'm already in cash at my existing. I wanted to do this earlier but life caught up with me. And this thread scared me into waiting for a quiet time I could manage any issues with the transfer.

I think the transfer took about 4 weeks. I did end up calling HSA Administrators to get the status at Fidelity's urging. As it happened, the transfer was about to complete in a couple of days. And HSA Administrators charged $25 for the privilege of closing my account.

Otherwise been very happy with the Fidelity HSA account.

I did open up the Fidelity HSA account first and requested the Fidelity initiate the transfer.