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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Investor Alley => Topic started by: onecoolcat on April 21, 2017, 10:44:48 PM

Title: BOA HSA - They Liquidated my Investments without my Knowledge
Post by: onecoolcat on April 21, 2017, 10:44:48 PM
I had close to $8k invested in index funds.  I changed jobs about 6 months ago and just noticed BOA converted my investments to a cash balance which they hold in my account.  I no longer have an HSA eligible insurance plan.  Are they supposed to/allowed to convert my HSA investments to a cash balance without my permission on the basis that I no longer have an HSA or no longer work for the company that opened the account?  I don't see where I can convert the cash back over to the investment account.  They have been charging me $3.50 per month to keep the account open and i'm pretty ticked.
Title: Re: BOA HSA - They Liquidated my Investments without my Knowledge
Post by: firelight on April 24, 2017, 03:39:15 AM
Ouch! Talk to them to see if there is any way out of the monthly fee. When I switched jobs, I had one bank deal with the monthly statements and another actually holding the HSA (I know, weird setup but I didn't know the divide till I called). So I called the one holding my HSA and they unlinked my account and that stopped my monthly fees as long as it was above $3000. Since my HSA had more than that, it was easy to qualify.
Title: Re: BOA HSA - They Liquidated my Investments without my Knowledge
Post by: firelight on April 24, 2017, 03:40:45 AM
To add, the one generating the monthly fees were scums and said there was no way out of the monthly fees.

I took 4+ years of spending my HSA to finally empty it and if I hadn't stopped the monthly fees, it would've taken a huge chunk out of my HSA.
Title: Re: BOA HSA - They Liquidated my Investments without my Knowledge
Post by: G-dog on April 24, 2017, 07:09:21 AM
This happened to me as well when I retired. It's probably in the small print somewhere.  I may have gotten a notice, and did not understand what it meant at the time.

But, essentially, the account changed - I was no longer part of " Employer X" group, but was now part of a different group. And, instead of transferring my account in kind, they cashed out investments and put them in cash. I was surprised too.

Also, they just revamped their system - I got lots of notices about that. And just got a new email that I need to create a new log in and password.

Your employer was probably paying that maintenance fee, I am now directly charged that as well.

Log in - Check what investment options you have, reinvest your money (I need to leave $1000 in cash).

Unless you currently have a high deductible insurance plan, I don't think you can add anymore to this account right now.  but you need to confirm that info, as I am not sure. I also don't know, but you may have options to move your balance to another HSA manager.
Title: Re: BOA HSA - They Liquidated my Investments without my Knowledge
Post by: Trudie on April 24, 2017, 01:38:49 PM
My HSA is with BOA and they just revamped their system.  Everyone's balances were pushed to cash and we had to go in and make new investment decisions.  Many people weren't happy.  On the upside, as someone who invests a good chunk of it, I like how the new system automatically sweeps my funds into my investment accounts once I'm at the $1000 cash threshold.  I didn't like it when I had to trigger those transactions before.

In general, I've noticed that the cash/banking side of the house doesn't communicate well with the investment side of the house.  It is improved now, however.
Title: Re: BOA HSA - They Liquidated my Investments without my Knowledge
Post by: DavidAnnArbor on April 25, 2017, 07:33:26 AM
You can transfer your HSA to a different HSA bank, you don't have to stick with Bank of America. I use Saturna.
Title: Re: BOA HSA - They Liquidated my Investments without my Knowledge
Post by: G-dog on April 25, 2017, 07:57:42 AM
You can transfer your HSA to a different HSA bank, you don't have to stick with Bank of America. I use Saturna.

i've wondered about how to do this. I still have my med insurance via work, but as a retiree, I pay the premiums. I am not sure how to untangle the medical insurance from the HSA. though the HSA is supposed to be portable...
Title: Re: BOA HSA - They Liquidated my Investments without my Knowledge
Post by: Highbeam on April 25, 2017, 09:34:35 AM
I too am a BOA HSA customer. They also sold all of my investments a month or two ago. Seems they wanted to get rid of their old mutual fund options. I had to go and rebuy a new mutual fund that was actually better. Your account balance, though cash, is still in an HSA so you are free to invest it in one of the new funds with no weird reporting or penalties. I have always had auto-investing turned on so everything over 1000$ balance was swept into mutual funds that is not new. Recently, like yesterday they locked everybody's login and forced a new password and username to use their new website. Yes, a pain but it works okay. It was also a pain to setup and execute a large withdrawal, seems that BOA is more setup for the debit card method of withdrawals vs. annual reimbursements.

I noticed all of the changes through my daily personal capital monitoring. I watch for this and I watch for fraudulent credit card activity.
Title: Re: BOA HSA - They Liquidated my Investments without my Knowledge
Post by: G-dog on April 25, 2017, 09:43:17 AM
I too am a BOA HSA customer. They also sold all of my investments a month or two ago. Seems they wanted to get rid of their old mutual fund options. I had to go and rebuy a new mutual fund that was actually better. Your account balance, though cash, is still in an HSA so you are free to invest it in one of the new funds with no weird reporting or penalties. I have always had auto-investing turned on so everything over 1000$ balance was swept into mutual funds that is not new. Recently, like yesterday they locked everybody's login and forced a new password and username to use their new website. Yes, a pain but it works okay. It was also a pain to setup and execute a large withdrawal, seems that BOA is more setup for the debit card method of withdrawals vs. annual reimbursements.

I noticed all of the changes through my daily personal capital monitoring. I watch for this and I watch for fraudulent credit card activity.

They dropped a VANGUARD S&P 500 index fund and replaced it with a Blackrock fund. At least in my list of funds (set by former employer). I was notified that this would happen. I wasn't sure how to get an auto transfer.
But, with their even more recent revamp, they did have a way to avoid having your investments cashed out.
Title: Re: BOA HSA - They Liquidated my Investments without my Knowledge
Post by: LuckyOwl on May 04, 2017, 02:09:22 PM
I have a BOA HSA through my employer and noticed these changes as well.

One thing which hasn't been brought up is the documentation for past expenses. In the old system there was a "cabinet" where you could upload receipts, input names and amounts, etc. in the new system I see the past expenses listed, but not the actual receipts that were scanned and uploaded into the cabinet. Has anyone else noticed this, or am I just not seeing the new location where they are stored?

I'm not really concerned because I have my own documentation outside of the HSA, but for those that were relying on BOA to keep track of receipts this could be a huge problem.