Elements Financial Increases HSA Fees

[RetiredERdoc]

Just got my statement From Elements Financial for my HSA. They are increasing their monthly fee for accounts that have less than $2500 from $3 a month to $4 a month, and increasing their wire transfer fee (to TDA) from $24 to $25. They are currently paying .5% on $2500-$9999. I had been only been keeping enough money in the account to pay the fees and transferring the rest to the investment account. Looks like I might need to look for a new custodian. Of course they increased the fees after I already sent in this years money. I know a $13 for the year  increase isn't that much, but sheesh.

Jim, it looks like you have not covered HSA custodians in a while, (2012?) maybe you can recommend one? (Forgive me if you have covered it again recently and I missed it).

[The White Coat Investor]

I'm still using HSA Bank. I think it's $3 a month if you have less than $5K in there and they pay 0.5% on whatever is in there. So you just have to decide what to do with the first $5K. No fee to move money to TD Ameritrade to invest (where Vanguard ETFs trade for free.) Seems superior all the way around to Elements Financial who I had never heard of until you mentioned it.

[jfoxcpacfp]

(deleted duplicate post)

[jfoxcpacfp]

I thought I jumped in once but it's disappeared.

Here is the site I send clients to when they are shopping for an HSA provider. This is the Elements review page. HSA Bank is pretty highly rated, as are several others. I've used Optum for about 5 years and it's pretty well known as a provider. However, they made a mistake on my 1098-SA about 3 years ago and have yet to correct it, despite one failed attempt and significant correspondence from me. I'm almost past the SOL and have just decided to wait for the deadline to pass. At least, I have copies of my correspondence if I get a notice.

[Joseph]

Thank you for that helpful link, Johanna.

[RetiredERdoc]

Great link Johanna. The Select Account looks interesting for when you reach 10k and can get the brokerage account. Looks like $18 a year with standard Schwab investment account fees.

[RetiredERdoc]

Elements Financial  is the former Eli Lilly FCU. I got into it several years ago when the Finance Buff recommended it. They raised the fees after I had already contributed for 2016, so I guess I will just let it ride this year and go elsewhere next year.

Link to article where TFB recommended it: http://thefinancebuff.com/best-hsa-provider-for-investing-hsa-money.html

[Chewbacca]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

I’m still using HSA Bank. I think it’s $3 a month if you have less than $5K in there and they pay 0.5% on whatever is in there. So you just have to decide what to do with the first $5K. No fee to move money to TD Ameritrade to invest (where Vanguard ETFs trade for free.) Seems superior all the way around to Elements Financial who I had never heard of until you mentioned it.

Click to expand...

Because HSA doesn't have a great updated (increased 1/2016?) fees page --

Does this mean

You make the max individual HSA contribution of $3,350 for a year, you move this to TD Ameritrade, leaving you with $0 in the account, so you have to pay $4 a month maintenance, unless you put another 5k in there, but you can't because you already maxed out your contribution?

[RetiredERdoc]

When I transfer my yearly contribution to TDA, I leave enough money at Elements to pay the monthly fees for the year.

[Chewbacca]

So for Elements, the yearly cost works out to $4 /month *12 + $25 transfer = $73 a year?

[Atlrock]

I recently transferred to SelectAccount.  As previously stated ... for $18/year you have the option of a self directed account with Schwab ($10,000 minimum balance).  It links nicely with my other Schwab accounts.  SelectAccount does require that you leave a minimum of $1000 in their low interest bearing account.

[RetiredERdoc]

That is the correct current elements fee structure.

[peterjdds]

Saturna (Capital), http://www.saturna.com/individual/hsa/ , have ZERO fees for maintenance, contributions, etc and no fees for trades in their affiliated mutual funds. (No info on what those funds are). If you want to go outside their funds their is a $14.95 commission fee, but their sites says there are some "no transaction fee funds" available. Again no info on what the options would be.

The one "catch," I can gather is that with zero fees, there is also 0.00% interest earned compared to others that offer the still low <1.0%.

Jim, any thoughts on Saturna?

[PNWskindoc]

Another vote for selectaccount. Opened an account with them this year and have been pleased. Reasonable fees, only a $1k minimum and great selection of Schwab etfs when you reach a $10k balance. I haven't met the $10k minimum yet so I have all my money in a vanguard small cap fund (NASEX).

[The White Coat Investor]

peterjdds wrote:

Saturna (Capital), http://www.saturna.com/individual/hsa/ , have ZERO fees for maintenance, contributions, etc and no fees for trades in their affiliated mutual funds. (No info on what those funds are). If you want to go outside their funds their is a $14.95 commission fee, but their sites says there are some “no transaction fee funds” available. Again no info on what the options would be.

The one “catch,” I can gather is that with zero fees, there is also 0.00% interest earned compared to others that offer the still low <1.0%.

Jim, any thoughts on Saturna?

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It really comes down to the investment options. What I like about HSA Bank/TD Ameritrade is that I can buy Vanguard ETFs commission free. So if I kept $5K in cash, there were no fees at all aside from the 5 basis points Vanguard charged as an ER. I figure I only need to beat something like 1-1.5% to make investing that last $5K worth it.