HSA Fees?

[dbanta]

I have all my accounts (checking, savings, mortgage) at Wells Fargo.  When I setup my HSA last year the natural choice was to use Wells Fargo.  However, they have a $4.25 monthly service fee because I just opened it last year and spent all the money in it having a baby.  From their website -

There is a monthly service fee of $4.25, unless otherwise indicated by your employer or insurance carrier. Additional banking fees may apply if you choose to use optional banking services or choose other non-standard services. The monthly service fee will be waived if the combined deposit and investment balance in your HSA on the last day of the month is greater than or equal to $5,000.

Do all HSAs have this fee?  Any recommendations for fee-free HSAs?  Should I just wait until the end of next year because by then I will hopefully have the $5,000 minimum.

I'm located in Colorado if any has any local banking recommendations.

[hexdexorex]

My work chase one has a fee as well that is similar...very very annoying and I cant really transfer to a no fee one. But yea I too would be interested if anyone knows of some fee free ones for future reference.

[clarkm04]

My DW's HSA has a $2.00 monthly maint. fee.  It's never waived.

The fee is high, but do you have the ability to hit the 5 k, maintain it and avoid the fee?

[dbanta]

The fee is high, but do you have the ability to hit the 5 k, maintain it and avoid the fee?

I can't until 2015 because I already have contributed close to the max in 2014.  I like using the payroll deduction system to make deposits because it makes my taxes easier, but I supposed I could try to do a couple of larger deposits at the beginning of the year and then change my payroll hsa deposit to $0.

[Gen Y Finance Journey]

Is your health insurance through your employer? Ask your benefits person if the company would consider reimbursing those fees. Companies save a lot of money when their employees sign up for an HDHP, so they're sometimes more willing to do you little favors like reimbursing that $4.25 each month.

[Roots&Wings]

My HSA doesn't charge fees (at least I've never been charged any...maybe if you take a ton of distributions).  It's with Sun Federal Credit Union (https://www.sunfcu.org/personal-services/hsa.html) 

The interest rates don't compare with investing accounts returns (below)

Health Savings Account
   Tier 1: $0-$4,999.99                     1.00%
   Tier 2: $5,000.00 - $9999.99        2.00%
   Tier 3: $10,000.00 and above        3.00%

My current employer health insurance plan isn't eligible for making additional HSA contributions and I've not yet figured out if it might be worth transferring the balance to an investing HSA account which charges some fees (on my to do list!).

[dbanta]

My HSA doesn't charge fees (at least I've never been charged any...maybe if you take a ton of distributions).  It's with Sun Federal Credit Union (https://www.sunfcu.org/personal-services/hsa.html) 

I just checked my local credit union (https://www.pscu.org/personal/accounts/hsa/) and it looks like they do offer an *fee* free hsa.  I'd lose the convenience of having all my accounts in one bank.

An alternative is that I can use this new info to go talk with Wells Fargo to see if they could drop the fees.

It's good to know that fee-free HSAs do in fact exist :-)

[Roots&Wings]

They don't pay ANY interest?!?  Wow, guess I'm lucky at my credit union at 2% interest (which I thought was pretty bad).

[dbanta]

They don't pay ANY interest?!?  Wow, guess I'm lucky at my credit union at 2% interest (which I thought was pretty bad).

Oops.  I meant fee free!

[Prepube]

I don't pay any fees at hsabank, and I have the account linked to a brokerage so I can manage/invest the funds as I see fit.  I've had the account since it was an MSA (medical savings account), which preceded the HSA law passed by bush.  There may be fees I do not know about, or I may have overlooked them.  I am in colorado, btw, and you won't find anything better than hsabank that is local.  Low balance fees are a norm in most mutual funds or other investment accounts, so you may not be able to avoid them while your account is still young.  Stay healthy and stop having babies, and your hsa will grow grow grow to your benefit later.

[dbanta]

I have the account linked to a brokerage so I can manage/invest the funds as I see fit.

This is intriguing.  I didn't even know you could link an hsa account to a brokerage.  That would be way better than my .05% interest at wells fargo.  Can you still withdraw as needed (no minimum investment time)?  Are there fees associated with your brokerage account?  A quick google search turned up options to invest an hsa in a Vanguard acct.  Is this similar to what you're doing? 
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/whatweoffer/overview/healthsavings

Stay healthy and stop having babies, and your hsa will grow grow grow to your benefit later.

Only 1 baby so far... and we want him to have a sibling so not quite ready to stop ;-)

[Gen Y Finance Journey]

I have the account linked to a brokerage so I can manage/invest the funds as I see fit.

This is intriguing.  I didn't even know you could link an hsa account to a brokerage.  That would be way better than my .05% interest at wells fargo.  Can you still withdraw as needed (no minimum investment time)?  Are there fees associated with your brokerage account?  A quick google search turned up options to invest an hsa in a Vanguard acct.  Is this similar to what you're doing? 
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/whatweoffer/overview/healthsavings

Stay healthy and stop having babies, and your hsa will grow grow grow to your benefit later.

Only 1 baby so far... and we want him to have a sibling so not quite ready to stop ;-)

You can do this with Wells Fargo too, but there's some minimum you have to have before they'll let you open the investment account. I think it's $2000. I have mine set up so it automatically transfers any amount over $2000 into the investment account. I don't know about withdrawing from the investment account though, I've never had to do that.

[Dezrah]

My HSA checking account with BenefitWallet has a $5 monthly fee if account balance is less than $1,000.  This fee is covered by my employer, but I choose to keep at least $1,200 in it anyway.  The HSA investment account is charged $2.90 per month regardless of balance. 

I have heard of places with lower fees but I can’t remember to link them.  If you do shop around, make sure you like the investments that are available. 

IMO, you should try to max out this triple-tax advantaged account even before your 401k and even with $60 in annual fees because the tax savings are that good.

[Roots&Wings]

It appears that HSA bank has various fees (some are waived with sufficient account balances): https://hsaadministrators.info/hsa-fees
As do Vanguard HSA administrators: https://hsaadministrators.info/hsa-fees

Have to run some numbers to decide if the fees are worth it.

[Weedy Acres]

I shopped around before opening my HSA and each local bank had its own fee system.  It does seem odd, since they'll give you no-fee checking accounts and savings accounts, but so it goes. 

I ended up with one that charges $2/month until you've got >$2500 balance.

[GGNoob]

My wife's HSA is at HSAAdministrators.info and we pay a $45 annual fee that is never waived. I'm happy with them and I think the fee is worth it. However, we don't plan on having kids and are planning on building up the HSA as long as possible. We investin Vanguard Admiral Shares mutual funds with a 90% stock and 10% bond allocation.

[chucklesmcgee]

Look at HSABank. Not only can you invest with TDAmeritrade in anything you'd like, fees are pretty low. Importantly, once your balance is over a certain point, those fees disappear entirely.

[thepokercab]

Look at HSABank. Not only can you invest with TDAmeritrade in anything you'd like, fees are pretty low. Importantly, once your balance is over a certain point, those fees disappear entirely.

I'm also at HSA bank, and its really great to be able to invest my funds through TDAmeritrade.  They do have a $3.00 account maintenance fee if you choose to do this, but as long as you keep at least $5,000 in your account they waive it.  Right now, i keep 5K in the account, and then the rest gets invested in commission free ETFs. 

I was bummed by the fee at first, but you'd be surprised how quickly your balances grow, especially if your maxing out your pre-tax withdrawals. 

[webguy]

My wife and I each have an HSA with HSA Administrators. $45/year fee each, but it's well worth it for the fact that we can invest in super-low cost Vanguard Admiral funds (you don't need a $10k minimum to invest in them through HSA Administrators like you do through Vanguard themselves). $45 might seem like a lot when you only have a few thousand in there, but when you have $10,000+ then I'd much rather be paying a flat $45 then a percentage.

[alibean]

One of the benefits through my employer is a fee-free HSA account at a local bank.  I just started w/this company so I'm not sure of all of the specifics but it looks like we can also invest this money.  My employer also adds money to my HSA each month when I signed myself up for my free insurance plan. 

[Aphalite]

Look at HSABank. Not only can you invest with TDAmeritrade in anything you'd like, fees are pretty low. Importantly, once your balance is over a certain point, those fees disappear entirely.

I'm also at HSA bank, and its really great to be able to invest my funds through TDAmeritrade.  They do have a $3.00 account maintenance fee if you choose to do this, but as long as you keep at least $5,000 in your account they waive it.  Right now, i keep 5K in the account, and then the rest gets invested in commission free ETFs. 

I was bummed by the fee at first, but you'd be surprised how quickly your balances grow, especially if your maxing out your pre-tax withdrawals.

Is there a minimum? I'd think that 5k working for you would return more than 36/5000 every year. I.E. Pay the maint fee, get more of your money into the market