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I have a high-deductible health plan that qualifies me to open an HSA (Health Savings Account). Where are good places to find an HSA in the US? What sorts of features should I look for? What extra fees should I look out for?

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In general, things to look for are:

  1. How high is is the account's rate of return?
  2. How easy is it to access your money?

Things to look out for:

  1. Minimum monthly amounts to put into checking accounts, or you'll be dinged with a monthly fee
  2. Large expense ratios in "mutual funds" you invest into, or $5+ dollar expenses when investing in mutual funds.

I'd recommend two places:

  1. Find a high interest HSA savings account. For example, Stanford Federal Credit Union currently offers 1.5% to members without direct deposit, 2.5% to members with $500 direct deposit in a checking account. EDIT: SFCU has dropped their rates substantially and is not a recommended bank for this purpose.
  2. For longer term investments, consider Health Savings Administrators which have Vanguard Admiral funds. Realize this is a bit more risky if you're depositing/withdrawing money often, but it can pay off assuming the stock/bond market has a higher rate of return. This is, however, risky, as many people mention that you should not plan on having "growth" in a mutual fund like this unless you keep and hold money there for 3 or more years. Additionally, the customer service of Fulton Bank is awesome.

I'd recommend reading up on HSA's in this related question here.

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    After recently setting up an account at Stanford FCU, I would definitely NOT recommend it to anyone else. The only thing in its favor is the high rate. The online banking website is absolute rubbish, and the service is fair-to-poor. I'm going to let it ride for a couple of months and will consider moving to a more reliable bank, even if I have to accept a lower rate.
    – bstpierre
    Feb 23, 2011 at 16:03
  • @bstpierre: How did it work out with SFCU? Their HSA rates seems to have dropped to a fit inducing 0.200%
    – sekharan
    Mar 31, 2014 at 3:33
  • SFCU changed their policies and rates of return, and I agree, I've moved my money away from their bank as well
    – CrimsonX
    Mar 31, 2014 at 14:38
  • @sekharan: their premier HSA (requires monthly $500 direct deposit) is still at 1.5%. Everything else about having the account there is a hassle. When I've looked around at other banks, rates are generally in the 0.1% range, so the rate at SFCU is the only thing keeping me there.
    – bstpierre
    Apr 1, 2014 at 11:53
  • Warning: HSA Administrators is great from the investment standpoint, but their customer service and website are terrible. They also try to extort fees at every opportunity. When I ended up over-contributing due to a website problem they had, they refused to waive the excess removal fee. Technically they have e-mail support but you'll be waiting weeks for an answer, which is sometimes not even correct (you'll get a different story depending on who you talk to). Investor beware.
    – Jeff Evans
    Apr 2, 2014 at 18:29
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The account I have found that works best as a HSA is Alliant Credit Union. They have fee-free HSA (no fees for almost all types of transactions or monthly fees) and a fairly decent online banking website. I've been with them for about 5 years now without trouble.

FYI - They are a credit union not a bank so you do have to make a small $10 donation to one of their charities to become "eligible" for opening the account.

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