Health Savings Administrators' New Custodian

[explanade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 It has nothing to do with working. When you file your federal taxes, there is a form for HSA contributions, and these get taken off your taxable income just like an IRA or 401K contribution. You don't pay Federal Income taxes on those contributions. If you didn't do that on your tax returns you might want to refile and get the refund you are owed. There is no way to contribute after tax dollars to an HSA account.

Thanks, it appears I missed the question in TurboTax or it didn't display the screen to enter it the first time around.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sue J ....the ONLY thing I like about them is that they offer Vanguard funds. What I don't like is they have the worst website. The lack of info on transactions is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I also told them I didn't like that the $45 fee had to come out of the account rather than being paid from outside money. I never found how to change that.

+1 I recall in some past years receiving a bill for the $45 and paying it from our taxable funds but this year it just came out of the account. I have been considering a change if I could find a better provider. I went with them because they had Vanguard funds and as others have, my solution to their pathetic website and high fees is to just interact with them as little as possible.

Does anyone here have a Fidelity HSA? If so, what is your experience? How much are their fees?

[audreyh1]

Fidelity HSA is not available to individual investors.

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski +1 I recall in some past years receiving a bill for the $45 and paying it from our taxable funds but this year it just came out of the account. I have been considering a change if I could find a better provider. I went with them because they had Vanguard funds and as others have, my solution to their pathetic website and high fees is to just interact with them as little as possible. Does anyone here have a Fidelity HSA? If so, what is your experience? How much are their fees?

I do the same about interacting with their website as little as possible. I use their site when I issue a withdrawal but for contributions and statements I go the old paper, pre-online method of writing a check and receiving paper statements.

Hopefully, if enough people tell on the survey that their website is so difficult to use, that they will make an improvement.

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ginny I have not been notified of a change of custodians. Last year was my first contribution. Another reason I am glad I am on this forum. I am less than OMY or <OMY!! So this may be my second and last contribution.

Not necessarily. I retired two years ago at age 61 and am still making tax-deductible contributions because I have an HSA-eligible individual plan ($5,000 deductible).

[explanade]

Finally another statement, this for July to September.

They took out $5.56 in fees for the period.

But YTD fees are $56.75!

What happened to $45 per year?

[Sue J]

The $45 is an annual fee. The other is a quarterly fee based on the size of your account. I don't have much in there so mine was just $1.71.

What kind of a financial institution doesn't tell you the date and amount of a transaction? This is the clumsiest bank I've ever dealt with.

[explanade]

Well my balance is under $10k. Only been contributing 2 years.

So if YTD is $56, looks like the whole year will be like $75 or so.

I haven't done any withdrawals or any kind of transactions other than making the annual contributions.

Fees seem high.

[jarts98]

Quote:

Originally Posted by explanade Fees seem high.

This is why I left HSAdministrators a year or so ago. At HSA Bank with a TD Ameritrade investment account holding Vanguard ETF's. Less expensive and easier to work with (IMO).

[explanade]

Do you have access to Admiral shares at TD Ameritrade?

Wonder how the expense ratios compare to ETFs.

Does Ameritrade charge commissions on buying ETFs?

[jarts98]

Quote:

Originally Posted by explanade Do you have access to Admiral shares at TD Ameritrade? Wonder how the expense ratios compare to ETFs. Does Ameritrade charge commissions on buying ETFs?

TD Ameritrade uses ETF's, not mutual funds (thus no Admiral shares). But they are the same ETF's as you'd buy from Vanguard, so the expenses are the same.

Commission free trades for many ETF's, including many Vanguard ETF's. I do leave $5k in HSA Bank to avoid all of their fees, but I count that as a part of my bond allocation in the HSA. You can leave less and pay a small fee.....still smaller than the fees at HSA Administrators.

[explanade]

Anyone having problems accessing the web site?

I only log in once a month or so, to see if there's been any deductions for maintenance or DRIP.

Every damn time, it rejects my password so I reset it to the one I set up the login with.

Well last month and now this month, resetting doesn't send me an email with the reset link.

So I had to call in and have them manually reset the password.

Now I can't log in and can't reset so I'll have to wait until Monday.

I don't know what their IT problem is.

[MichaelB]

Saw your post, tried to log in to my HSA Bank account *the custorian of HSA Administrators?) , could not, got this message:

Quote:

Evolution1 1CloudThis website is undergoing system enhancements and is temporarily unavailable. Please try back later.

I recall having difficulties logging in outside of banking hours (but this may be a false memory). Anyway, I would not call their online systems "robust". More like "bare bones".

[rodi]

You made me look. I was able to log on... but I always go to this website
https://hsaa.ipx-sys.com/Login.aspx

It never seems to work if I go to the HealthSavings.com website... so I've saved off the link (above) that seems to get me directly to the logon screen.

[explanade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi You made me look. I was able to log on... but I always go to this website https://hsaa.ipx-sys.com/Login.aspx It never seems to work if I go to the HealthSavings.com website... so I've saved off the link (above) that seems to get me directly to the logon screen.

Yeah I've saved that link too.

It doesn't like my password.

Every month I've been resetting it to the one I wanted and I finally log on, check for statements and so on, log off, then try logging back on.

It works.

But then I don't log on again for about a month and always run into problems.

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by explanade Yeah I've saved that link too. It doesn't like my password. Every month I've been resetting it to the one I wanted and I finally log on, check for statements and so on, log off, then try logging back on. It works. But then I don't log on again for about a month and always run into problems.

I've resorted to the old fashioned method of mailing paper checks for contributions and receiving paper statements.

The only time I really log in is when requesting a withdrawal every year.

Figure, the less I log in, the less chance of encountering problems .

In the past, I've run into log in problems like getting locked out. To avoid, by trial and error, I make sure to not use a pop-up blocker and don't ask their site to remember my computer. I have to enter my challenge answer each time.

Otherwise, I'd run into problems and need a password reset.

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by easysurfer ... In the past, I've run into log in problems like getting locked out. To avoid, by trial and error, I make sure to not use a pop-up blocker and don't ask their site to remember my computer. I have to enter my challenge answer each time. Otherwise, I'd run into problems and need a password reset.

To clarify, I meant to say that I turn off my pop-up blocker for the HSA Admin site.

But use of other sites, I have the pop-up blocker on. Otherwise, I'd be bombarded with pop-ups

[Yarnstormer]

So...sounds like healthsavings website is frustrating to work with? Suggested alternatives? I honestly just need the account to keep my magi down - and will probably save the money for medicare expenses.
I went to southstate bank locally and they don't have any investment options for their has accounts!! That seems very wrong but the gal there seemed to think that was the deal. I'm not parking thousands in cd's for the next 10 years.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yarnstormer So...sounds like healthsavings website is frustrating to work with? Suggested alternatives? I honestly just need the account to keep my magi down - and will probably save the money for medicare expenses. I went to southstate bank locally and they don't have any investment options for their has accounts!! That seems very wrong but the gal there seemed to think that was the deal. I'm not parking thousands in cd's for the next 10 years.

It's pretty quirky and I don't like their statements as they don't include transactions that I can reconcile, but I get thing figured out well enough.

[pb4uski]

Basically, Health Savings Administrators website sucks. I wish there was a better alternative