From time to time we look at current interest rates and set-up fees from the leading banks offering HSAs. Honestly, in doing this bit of research, I am not sure how some of these banks are leaders in their space. I suppose some of the “leaders” are gaining their large numbers of HSA accounts through commercial deals with insurance providers, employers, TPAs etc. because a few of them do not make it easy for the average Joe to evaluate their products. With some of these banks I felt like I was looking for the last egg at an Easter Egg hunt.
Today I took a look at the top ten HSA custodians by #s of accounts compiled from the March 20th edition of Inside Consumer Directed Care newsletter.
Two banks that stand out as not really wanting my business are Mellon HSA Solution and Optum Health Bank. I could find neither interest rates or fees on their sites (although I did find, with some hunting, what appears to be some fee/rate information on Mellon on another site from a couple of months back). Also, Fifth Third Bank and Wells Fargo did not want to tell me what they would charge to set up an HSA with them.
I’m not sure why the banks want to make it so hard to compare but they do. In many cases I really had to dig into their web sites to find the most basic rate information. All the above said, rates and fees for banks are subject to change and the information provided below is based on my surfing. If you see anything interesting, you should check out the banks’ sites for yourself an pay particular attention to all the other fees they may charge.
Set-up Fee(s) Interest Rate (APY)
- Mellon HSA Solutions $14 .35%
- The BancCorp Bank $0 .5%-2.28%
- Fifth Third Bank ? .15%-1.5%
- First Horizon MSaver $0 .1%-2.3%
- HSA Bank $18-$25 .25%-2.47%
- JP Morgan Chase $0-$20 .34%
- Optum Health Bank ? ?
- Select Account $0 .1%-4.25%
- US Bank $20 .21%-1.17%
- Wells Fargo ? .15%-.75%
Another fee to pay particularly close attention to is the monthly fee associated with an account. Many banks waive these fees with minimum deposits, but on lower deposits yielding lower percentage rates the fees could pretty much eat up any interest.
Happy Hunting!
Filed under: business, health savings accounts, healthcare finance, high deductible health plan, hsa education | Tagged: Bancorp, cdh, fifth third, HSA Bank, HSA Custodians, JP Morgan Chase, Mellon, MSaver, Optum Health Bank, SelectAccount, US Bank, Wells Fargo
I found you after getting pissed off with the fact that I have $7,390 at ACS/Mellon, they are paying me $3.04 int. and feeing me $2.95/month, or 0.5%/yr. Looks like Select Account is the best you found. Paying $50 fee would give me (on soon to be $10,000+) a net 2.25%. Sounds like a winner
it is a bit of an easter egg hunt and I think there will be general convergence in time. Obviously you have to look out for the monthly fees but w/$10K on deposit you might be able to skip those. HSA Bank has a Sign Up waiver through http://www.myHSArewards.com through August ‘09 which you might want to check out. It’ll save you $18, but not sure how their monthly fees work. Good Luck.