CFPB is aware of the issue. I’m guessing that the incoming administration is not going to care about fees.
And thank GOD! if a Business wants to Steal ALL my Money that just makes them GOOD BUSINESSMEN! If I wanted Rights I would Lift up my Bootstraps!
This is because you are not the customer. Your employer is the customer, they are the ones who get to choose the HSA provider for their employees. You are the goods to be sold. The HSA provider is simply harvesting profits.
“You are not the customer, you are the product” is true so often, but in many cases (like this one) it doesn’t really apply.
First off, “not the customer but the product” is an inherently antagonistic relationship. Your goals are opposed to Facebook’s, for instance, because you want to spend less time on the platform and you want to interact with friends and not brands, but Facebook wants the opposite of both. But with HSA administration, your goals and your employer’s goals are aligned: you both want someone who will quickly and painlessly manage your account without being a pain.
Second, “not the customer but the product” implies an undisclosed, extractive payment occurring behind the scenes. TikTok is harvesting a great deal of data from you and selling it to other companies. You are the product in that your data has value. But with HSA administration, the product is just the management of your HSA money; there’s no under-the-table dealing going on here (or there shouldn’t be); they’re getting paid by your company for their services.
Third, “not the customer but the product” relationships are entirely one-way; you have no way to impact the providing company beyond just not using their services. They do not, will not, and at some level can never care about your experience beyond making it as minimally useful to you to keep you on the platform. But that HSA provider desperately needs your company’s business, so if enough of your coworkers raise a stink and get your company to complain, they will make a change.
In actuality, “not the customer but the product” ignores the unfortunate reality of most HR/payroll service companies in this case: they’re just the lowest bidder, contracted at the bottom dollar to provide the cheapest services possible, because your employers don’t have to use their services and don’t care about your experience.
I left two cents in mine and just left it as is. I like to think that every time those pirates send me a letter telling me I have 2 cents left or send me checks which I don’t cash it costs them money.
Drain it to zero and then let them auto close it for inactivity. Or keep it open forever since there’s no admin fee.
It’s an HSA, keep as much as you can in it. Use it for medical if you have too. Let it become functionally an IRA when you hit 65.
Cause everything is stupid and you can’t choose your own HSA, I had multiple at one point. It’s easier to merge them all and close the rest so you aren’t keeping track of a ton of accounts.
Edit: Also if your investing there are better or worse accounts, so moving all the money into one can help make you more money.
The admin fee is $0. Can you just transfer all of the money out and keep the account empty?
This is exactly what I do. Spend all the money out of the account and delete my login. Done this at least a couple times and I’ve never had an issue. What are they gunna do? File a bullshit claim on my credit?
Honest question: why? I’ve only been able to use an HSA once, and I thought the big advantage is that it’s your money you can keep and use whenever. Can’t you just keep using it normally, ideally save some of it?
In my case, my ex got it put in our divorce judgement that I would carry “traditional” insurance, so I knew that my HSA had no future
Well, I spent the money using the American healthcare system. Because my insurance sucks so much that I often get shafted with huge bills. One such recent one was learning I had to get hearing aids out of pocket as my plan had no coverage. That is why my HSA is gone.
HSAs are an annoying attempt to fix US health insurance. They are tax free (meaning your money goes farther), but you can only contribute to them if you have a high deductible health insurance plan.
Additionally, you are limited to a couple thousand a year in contributions and that money can only be used for approved health expenses. The slight upside is that the money won’t ever go away, meaning you can keep building up your HSA and even invest it.
Where it’s gotten weird is that many people actually just use it as tax deffered savings, as after 65 (I think) the money becomes general use.
However, this means HSAs primarily benefit wealthier people by only really being accessible to those who already have insurance and have excess money to contribute.
Does it benefit the company in some way to have empty accounts on their books?
It’s that someone has to do work and they want things to be automated. Everything with a fee is to cover salaries.
I had this happen a couple jobs ago - I successfully spent it down to $1, but the they wouldn’t transfer that little. I suppose I may still legally have this amount somewhere
