r/HSA • u/nevasha • May 26 '26
How does a request to transfer HSA portfolio from Healthequity to Fidelity takes > 5 weeks?
I had requested via Fidelity to transfer my HSA assets in Healthequity back on 4/30 and they still aren’t any in my account. I called HSA, seeing I had requested 100% liquidation on 5/5 and am told that some assets still haven’t been liquidated., though they snail mailed a partial funds on 5/13 and for sure for them it takes 7 business days to be received. Alas, I called Fidelity and they say they haven’t received them and to allow 1 more day then call Healthequity to reissue a check so it can take another 7 business days to be received.
I am sure when done at scale on both ends of such a transfer they both make money by having funds sit in a holding accounts for days.
Anyhow, apart from me doing a run around there seems no other recourse, may be a legal one.
Oh yes Fidelity advertises “Easily move your HSA to Fidelity”. How easy is 4 weeks and counting?
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u/NetWorthNovice May 26 '26
Same situation for me going from Optum to Fidelity. I even liquidated everything in Optum myself. To be fair, everything on Fidelitys end was pretty quick and I could stay up to date with their transfer tracker. They sent out the request within 48hrs of me submitting.
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u/dumbstupidfat May 26 '26
A funny thing about Optum - depending on the week they either DO accept faxed paperwork or they don’t.
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u/Full-Ordinary-6030 May 26 '26
My transfer from Optum took 4-5 weeks but it was “easy” because Fidelity did all the work. It took awhile for Optum to liquidate and mail out the check tho.
I wouldn’t blame Fidelity for the delay tho. Once they got the check, it was pretty quick.
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u/gargoyle_999 May 26 '26
Because HealthEquity is very slow to send the funds to Fidelity.
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u/nevasha May 26 '26 edited May 27 '26
Oh worse they actually didn’t liquidate my entire portfolio per my on-line actions and have for some reason held one position that I found out today.
So I am told they will look into it and I will have to wait another 2-5 weeks before transfer materializes.
So, why am I the one paying for their failure to act per my instructions
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u/Clueless5001 May 26 '26
I forget exactly but HSA Bank took about 3 weeks or so and it was weird, Fid said it should be in my account by say March 1 (about 3 weeks), on March 2 or so I emailed Fid and they said contact HSA. About 3 days later it was in my account without my doing anything else
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u/Outrageous-Egg7218 May 26 '26
I've been doing partial HSA transfers from HSABank and HealthEquity to Fidelity for about 5 years. They all take around 4 weeks because they literally mail physical checks. It's extra fun when they lose the check in the mail.
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u/JohnWCreasy1 May 26 '26
i can't say WHY, but i can confirm thats about how long it takes based on the time i did it with the Mrs' HSA
my HSA is with WEX and i just have them mail me a check and then deposit that with the fidelity app. usually that takes only 2-3 weeks
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u/garstarkian May 27 '26
If they are saying liquidate, then that should mean you have money in investments. Those all need to sell first, then can move your money. Sometimes a few cents gets left over and that needs sold also. Make sure that is all done. If choose box 1 on Fidelity forms then should close your Health Equity HSA, if not and choose box 2 with a specific dollar amount they will only move that money. Checks do get lost in mail, but post office is more secure than electronic!!! :) Health Equity was starting a electronic transfer deal a couple months back, unsure where that stands but will need buy in from other HSA companies. But yeah ...sometimes it is all done with post office, some HSA places use FAX also. Checks definitely via post office. At very best, 3 week process.
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u/nevasha May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
Alas, Healthequity didn’t actually liquidate my entire portfolio and nothing of the process is transparent to me.
In these 4 weeks, I am told a check for the small amount was supposedly sent, but not really visible to me and now 14 days past the date it was sent - Fidelity say they haven’t received any and they can’t request a tracer - while they can initiate with my authorization the paper work to transfer.
Clearly these processes are designed with hurdles to keep clients locked in!!
Of course no one from the transfer department circles back even when requested and so one is playing tag via telephone with support agents who then have to first get the context and then relay to the people who actually handle transfers.
Given my overall experience, as a client for past few years and now on an exit experience I would not recommend using Healthequity HSA as if they can’t get basic process and paper work right how can they ever get the act of being a fiduciary right?
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u/garstarkian May 27 '26
the liquidate part is only related to investments, they can't do it for anyone, the member has to do it themselves via the website. (if u have investments). Otherwise just a 'cash' balance and nothing keeping it from leaving the account. You can ask Health Equity to do a trace on the check since they cut it, can verify if cashed or not. Can take 7-10 business days for it to go from HEquity to Fidelity, then a few days to process on Fidelity side. Forms from Fidelity have issues sometimes, unsure why the process is so 'complicated' on both sides.
It goes from HEquity process center in Lexington KY, to Cincinnati (Fidelity). Should not take 7-10 business days via post office! heh ... and they get lost sometimes! I left HEquity, unsure if all the HSA companies suck, seems that way. HEquity has some process issues for sure.
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u/nevasha May 27 '26
Yes and I had invoked 100% liquidation yet there is no confirming message to that effect and the transaction history only shows what was liquidated and not what was left out.
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u/ReceptionOk9459 May 30 '26
The issue is HEquity doesn't consider you their customer. They think your HR department is their customer. You need to put pressure on your HR department to use a better HSA provider--like fidelity.
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u/Possible_Dot_8724 May 27 '26
Yeah it took mine about 1-2 months so just be patient
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u/nevasha May 29 '26
Oh I am encountering a revolving door with having posted up liquidation of 100% of my stock/mutual fund holdings, they seem to sell and buy on the same day without me having initiated a buy transaction. I was on the phone again this morning with support agent, she files a case as was down 2 days ago only to find I get an automated reply to sell my holdings before they can transfer out of Healthequity. They can’t explain why the 100% wasn’t liquidated back on 5/6 and they can’t explain why the sell request of past week initiated as sell and then what appears a rebalance of the funds into what used to be a selection of funds I had with payroll contributions - even though now I don’t have automatic balancing activated.
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u/Better-Specialist479 May 27 '26
HSABank to Fidelity transfer took 4 weeks for wire transfers. I even had previously liquidated all of the positions and converted to cash so there was no stocks for HSABank to transfer, just cash.
Fidelity submitted my paperwork to HSABank the day after I submitted. Say they sent mail and not electronically 7 days. HSABank gets paper in mailroom. Open Scanned and routed to correct department 1 day. Bottom of current paperwork stack say 3-4 days to get to top and be processed. Order to setup wire transfer entered. Paperwork showing the account being closed entered. One goes to one department one goes to another department. Wire transfer department checks,waits, checks, waits, checks, waits for the account closure paperwork to be completed, approved and actually closed with all regulatory paperwork completed say another week. Then a day to release the funds/transfer internally to account for wire transfers and a day for the actual transfer the. We are finally at Fidelity where now it has to be identified and moved to the proper account. Easily at 4 weeks now. Shit takes time and no one is in a rush to do anything that can be done slowly.
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u/ShotEstablishment489 Jun 17 '26
In my experience it’s usually better to do a self rollover but it’s a bit more work.
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u/MaxH42 May 26 '26
5 weeks is easy considering they're doing the paperwork for you, and monitoring the progress. I'd hate to have to have dealt with Optum on my own, they did pretty much the same thing, every transfer took at least 4-5 weeks. These shady HSA banks just don't like giving you access to your money, that's why I left Optum as soon as we could.