Questions on Switching to Fidelity HSA

[easysurfer]

I'm thinking about switching my HSA custodian from HSA Administrators to Fidelity since with HSA Admin, I'm not crazy about the fees and statements that still to me, don't make any sense.

I know several folks here have made the jump to Fidelity. From what I understand, moving from HSA Admin, I'd have to first cash out into a HSA Admin's cash account.

1) How long did it take to cash out? I wanted to wait until there's an uptick in the market (like now) for a few days before cashing out. I confess, doing some market timing .

2) When moved to Fidelity, I know Fidelity has some new funds (for example, Fidelity Health Savings Fund (FHLSX) for HSAs and I'd probably invest there. But I invested not another Fidelity fund (not just for the HSA) would there be additional fees? I really didn't see a mention either way on the Fidelity site I was looking at.

[audreyh1]

The cash out occurred by the next day if I recall correctly, so you might be able to catch an up day if you cash out before market close.

The Fidelity HSA is a full brokerage account. You have a huge number of no fee options and very low cost fund offerings and no fee ETF and stock trades. Fidelity has a full range of very low cost index mutual funds. You also have access to funds from other companies, but some require transaction fees.

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 The cash out occurred by the next day if I recall correctly, so you might be able to catch an up day if you cash out before market close. The Fidelity HSA is a full brokerage account. You have a huge number of no fee options and very low cost fund offerings and no fee ETF and stock trades. Fidelity has a full range of very low cost index mutual funds. You also have access to funds from other companies, but some require transaction fees.

Thanks for the helpful info. The wheels are in motion. I just did my cash out request. According to the HSA Admin site, transactions done by 2 pm est go in effect the same day. So, I had about an hour to spare.

[easysurfer]

Well, so much for market timing.

Market was up over 500 pts earlier so had me thinking, I'm going make a killing cashing out my HSA before switching to Fidelity's HSA. Then Dow decides to take a dive and ends up only up about 10 pts.

[pb4uski]

So are you having HSA Administrators send you a check?

I went through a trustee-to-trustee transfer between HSA Administrators and Fido and it was a PITA. It would have been much easier/quicker to just do a regular withdrawal for my account balance and have them send me a check and then walk into the nearby Fido office and deposit it to my HSA account and have then tag it as a rollover contribution.

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski So are you having HSA Administrators send you a check? I went through a trustee-to-trustee transfer between HSA Administrators and Fido and it was a PITA. It would have been much easier/quicker to just do a regular withdrawal for my account balance and have them send me a check and then walk into the nearby Fido office and deposit it to my HSA account and have then tag it as a rollover contribution.

Haven't put anything in motion yet except the cashing out.

Plan on doing a trustee-to-trustee transfer. Saw a previous thread about HSA Admin dragging their feet. That's a big reason why switching in the first place .

[audreyh1]

My trustee to trustee transfer took along time - maybe a month? And in the end Fidelity contacted me to call HSA Administrators to get status. They were a pain.

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 My trustee to trustee transfer took along time - maybe a month? And in the end Fidelity contacted me to call HSA Administrators to get status. They were a pain.

Did HSA make you jump through hoops just get got a status?

Sounds like they refused to give a status to Fidelity?

I'm not that much in a rush as waiting about a month is fine with me. But don't like dealing with those who are a pain.

Reminds me of years ago trying to work with a credit union. Wasn't long before I closed out the account and took my business elsewhere.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski So are you having HSA Administrators send you a check? I went through a trustee-to-trustee transfer between HSA Administrators and Fido and it was a PITA. It would have been much easier/quicker to just do a regular withdrawal for my account balance and have them send me a check and then walk into the nearby Fido office and deposit it to my HSA account and have then tag it as a rollover contribution.

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 My trustee to trustee transfer took along time - maybe a month? And in the end Fidelity contacted me to call HSA Administrators to get status. They were a pain.

I had the same experience, so glad to be rid of those idiots.

[davebarnes]

It took 6+ weeks for me.
I hate Optum Bank.

[Montecfo]

I am looking at Fidelity too. Has anyone done a transfer out of HSA Bank/TDA?

I really do not want to have funds out of the market.

[Joylush]

I just did this. Switched from Optum Bank HSA to Fidelity.

Made the request and after a month with nothing showing up I contacted Fidelity. All they could tell me was to call Optum. Called Optum and was told first I had to convert everything to cash. Nobody told me that. So I immediately did that. Went back to Fidelity and created a new transfer request and the money was received by Fidelity directly from Optum within a week.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by easysurfer Did HSA make you jump through hoops just get got a status? Sounds like they refused to give a status to Fidelity? I'm not that much in a rush as waiting about a month is fine with me. But don't like dealing with those who are a pain. Reminds me of years ago trying to work with a credit union. Wasn't long before I closed out the account and took my business elsewhere.

They were refusing to give Fidelity some of that transfer status information and requiring the customer to call in for that information.

[mrfeh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davebarnes It took 6+ weeks for me. I hate Optum Bank.

I'm getting the impression it takes a long time for all of them. I transferred from healthequity to Fido a few months ago, and it was weeks (3-4?) before the money was available at Fido.

[pb4uski]

That is why I think it is easiest/best to just do a full withdrawal and have them send you a check since that can happen quickly, then deposit the check to you new Fido HSA and have them code it as a rollover contribution.

[sengsational]

This thread has a lot of answered questions and documented experiences: https://www.early-retirement.org/for...nts-94781.html

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski That is why I think it is easiest/best to just do a full withdrawal and have them send you a check since that can happen quickly, then deposit the check to you new Fido HSA and have them code it as a rollover contribution.

Agree as long as it is that simple. My concern was that it might not get recorded as a transfer as opposed to a withdrawal.

[pb4uski]

Rollovers are reported on line 14b of Form 8889... I received a Form 5498-SA from Fidelity reporing it as a rollover.

[CoolChange]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Montecfo I am looking at Fidelity too. Has anyone done a transfer out of HSA Bank/TDA? I really do not want to have funds out of the market.

I did this about 18 months ago. My Fidelity guy even had his assistant fill out my paperwork and send it off to HSA and TD for me.


The transfer from TD was very quick and smooth.


The transfer from HSA Bank (a bit of uninvested cash), took weeks and multiple phone calls.


I cannot ever see me doing business with HSA Bank again. I still have multiple accounts with both TDA and Fidelity.

[rkser]

I have our HSA accounts in Fido already, and am considering changing over my Vanguard accounts to Fidelity due to a idiotic Vanguard Flagship Representative.

I have heard about better customer service at Fidelity & they have a Office in our city. Further investments will be in Vanguard ETFs.

If any body has transferred their accounts over to Fido, wonder how their experience was ?