Vanguard HSA via Health Equity any experiance? I'm new to HSA!

[CutTheFat]

My husbands employer is moving to a HDHP with an HSA effective May 1.  The employer choose the bank (People's United) that holds the HSA and I have no clue what the interest might be. Nothing is listed in the paper work or on the website.   I do see fees listed on web, $2/month charge until the account reaches $1k, and another $2/month until you opt out of paper statements.  Nothing about interest so I'm assuming it's mediocre as most bank accounts are.  I googled Vanguard HSA and found this https://personal.vanguard.com/us/whatweoffer/overview/healthsavings 

I've looked at both options and I'm leaning toward http://healthequity.com/ because they seem to have a self guided option that doesn't seem to have any fees, unless I'm missing something.  The other company had fees. 

I'm still a little unsure about how this is rolled.  I think in order to get the tax advantage HSA we must go through the chosen bank through payroll deductions and then fill out a form to roll....I will be calling them to get more info.  Any one have experience with this company?

Employer pays $2k into HSA and we will max it out.

[Nothlit]

Yes, you will almost certainly need to keep the employer's chosen HSA open to receive the payroll contributions, then you are free to move the money wherever you wish.

However, be aware that you can only do one HSA rollover per 12 months (IRS rule). There is an alternate mechanism that is not so restricted, known as trustee-to-trustee transfer, but some banks charge a fee for this so be careful there too.

[Secretly Saving]

We use Health Equity.  It's been great.  They offer tons of Vanguard options at the "Institutional Shares" level which means lowest expense ratios.

[Clean Shaven]

I have Health Equity for a HSA because that's who my employer set it up with. For our plan (I don't know if this varies), you can invest any amount over $2000 - in other words, you must keep $2000 in cash. If your cash balance is a minimum of $2500, the monthly fee is waived.

There are many mutual funds to choose from, most of which have a lot of fees. There are Vanguard ones available for an additional fee - Health Equity adds a surcharge.

All my HSA investment funds are in the institutional S&P 500, with an ER of 0.02%. It was the most attractive (lowest fees) available in Health Equity. There's a fee of some percentage of invested monies too, but I don't remember how much.

I'm not thrilled with the HSA fees, but I max it out in order to get the tax advantages, so it's worthwhile.

[Secretly Saving]

I have Health Equity for a HSA because that's who my employer set it up with. For our plan (I don't know if this varies), you can invest any amount over $2000 - in other words, you must keep $2000 in cash. If your cash balance is a minimum of $2500, the monthly fee is waived.

Interesting, we don't have to keep this much cash and we don't have monthly fee charges.

[Clean Shaven]

Under my Health Equity HSA, I have these funds available with a surcharge (Health Equity calls these "investor choice" funds).  Health Equity says "the monthly administration fee for Investor Choice funds is 0.033% of the average value invested" -- this is a fee that HE tacks on to the monthly administration fee, which is waived under my plan if you have $2500 minimum in cash.

Let's see if this is at all legible...  the first column to the right of the word "passive" is the ER for each fund, followed by the 1/3/5 year returns.

In addition to this list, I also have available VIIIX (SP500 institutional) and VGSNX (REIT institutional), which aren't showing up in the list, because they're in my HSA portfolio.  I don't have any $ in the REIT anymore; moved it all to SP500.

SMALL VALUE   
VSIAX
Choice $
VANGUARD SMALL CAP VALUE INDEX ADMIRAL   Passive   0.08%   22.96%   9.04%   14.17%
INTERMEDIATE-TERM BOND   
VBMPX
Choice $
VANGUARD TOTAL BOND MARKET IDX INSTLPLS   Passive   0.04%   0.45%   2.62%   2.30%
TARGET-DATE 2060+   
VTTSX
Choice $
VANGUARD TARGET RETIREMENT 2060 INV   Passive   0.16%   14.67%   6.19%   9.53%
LARGE GROWTH   
VIGIX
Choice $
VANGUARD GROWTH INDEX INSTITUTIONAL   Passive   0.07%   15.94%   10.66%   12.93%
TARGET-DATE 2020   
VTWNX
Choice $
VANGUARD TARGET RETIREMENT 2020 INV   Passive   0.14%   9.44%   5.17%   7.34%
ALLOCATION--30% TO 50% EQ   
VWIAX
Choice $
VANGUARD WELLESLEY INCOME ADMIRAL   Passive   0.15%   6.50%   5.68%   7.06%
TARGET-DATE 2040   
VFORX
Choice $
VANGUARD TARGET RETIREMENT 2040 INV   Passive   0.16%   14.32%   6.14%   9.43%
TARGET-DATE RETIREMENT   
VTINX
Choice $
VANGUARD TARGET RETIREMENT INCOME INV   Passive   0.13%   5.36%   3.80%   4.61%
MID-CAP BLEND   
VEMPX
Choice $
VANGUARD EXTENDED MARKET INDEX INSTLPLUS   Passive   0.05%   22.53%   7.18%   12.64%
FOREIGN LARGE BLEND   
VTPSX
Choice $
VANGUARD TOTAL INTL STOCK IDX INSTLPLS   Passive   0.07%   13.74%   1.13%   4.87%
INFLATION-PROTECTED BOND   
VTAPX
Choice $
VANGUARD SHRT-TERM INFL-PROT SEC IDX ADM   Passive   0.07%   1.58%   0.62%   
DIVERSIFIED EMERGING MKTS   
VEMIX
Choice $
VANGUARD EMERGING MKTS STOCK IDX INSTL   Passive   0.11%   17.60%   1.94%   0.91%
SHORT-TERM BOND   
VBIRX
Choice $
VANGUARD SHORT-TERM BOND INDEX ADM   Passive   0.09%   0.38%   1.25%   1.18%
TARGET-DATE 2030   
VTHRX
Choice $
VANGUARD TARGET RETIREMENT 2030 INV   Passive   0.15%   11.90%   5.72%   8.50%
NATURAL RESOURCES   
VMIAX
Choice $
VANGUARD MATERIALS INDEX ADMIRAL   Passive   0.10%   23.31%   6.06%   9.88%
MID-CAP VALUE   
VMVAX
Choice $
VANGUARD MID-CAP VALUE INDEX ADMIRAL   Passive   0.08%   19.49%   9.39%   14.32%
SMALL BLEND   
VSMAX
Choice $
VANGUARD SMALL CAP INDEX ADM   Passive   0.08%   21.51%   7.41%   12.89%
WORLD BOND   
VTABX
Choice $
VANGUARD TOTAL INTL BD IDX ADMIRAL   Passive   0.12%   1.14%   4.04%   
INFLATION-PROTECTED BOND   
VIPIX
Choice $
VANGUARD INFLATION-PROTECTED SECS I   Passive   0.07%   1.43%   2.07%   0.98%
TARGET-DATE 2050   
VFIFX
Choice $
VANGUARD TARGET RETIREMENT 2050 INV   Passive   0.16%   14.70%   6.24%   9.50%
LARGE VALUE   
VVIAX
Choice $
VANGUARD VALUE INDEX ADM   Passive   0.08%   18.73%   9.61%   13.41%
Add Selected

[CutTheFat]

Thanks for all of the input I really appreciate it.