Bend HSA Review: Track And Maximize Your HSA Savings With AI

An HSA (Health Savings Account) allows you to contribute pre-tax money right from your paycheck into a special account that is used for medical expenses. Instead of paying out of pocket for qualified medical expenses, you can use your HSA debit card to cover those expenses while taking advantage of tax savings. And your HSA funds grow tax-free.

For 2021, you can contribute up to $3,600 in an HSA for individuals and $7,100 for families. For those aged 55 or older, you can take advantage of the $1,000 “catch- up” contribution. Contribution limits usually adjust upward every year.

Bend HSA is an HSA provider that uses AI to improve HSA engagement and employee financial wellness. They simplify the process of using and managing an HSA account. As an employee, using Bend as your HSA provider won’t cost anything. Continue reading our full Bend HSA review to learn more about what they offer.

Who Is Bend HSA?

Bend HSA is part of Bend Financial, Inc. It is located in Boston, MA and was founded in December 2017. It’s president and CEO is Tom Torre. The company’s goal is to improve HSA engagement through the use of technology and financial wellness.

"Lack of financial literacy is an epidemic in the United States, making it more important than ever for organizations to arm themselves with the tools necessary to make positive changes in the financial lives of their employees," said Torre in a press release. "By leveraging behavioral economics, employers have the unique opportunity to increase HSA adoption, improve program engagement, and influence positive decision-making for employees."

What Do They Offer?

Bend HSA is an insurtech company that offers HSA and financial wellness solutions to individuals, companies, and organizations. Through the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning, it helps companies and employees better utilize HSAs. In this article, we’ll focus on the offerings for individuals.

Employer-Sponsored Accounts

There are several reasons employers may want to use Bend HSA. These include automated, paperless employee setup (which can be done in less than 30 minutes), and quick payroll integration.

Bend also says employers should expect better employee engagement with their HSA account. Employers pay a monthly fee of $1.75 per employee. If you're en employee of a company that uses Bend, it's completely free to you. You won’t have to worry about monthly fees.

Individual Accounts

Even if you're employer doesn't offer HSAs through Bend, you can still open an individual account on your own.

You'll get all of the same benefits as you would as an employee. The only difference is that you'll be charged a monthly fee of $2.50 until you've reached an average daily balance of at least $3,000.

Bend Advisor

Behind the scenes, the AI-powered Bend Advisor will work to ensure you are getting the most out of your HSA by identifying qualified medical expenses. The more you use your Bend HSA, the more the Advisor will benefit you by recognizing patterns and suggesting optimizations.

Also, Bend HSA is all about the user experience and encouraging employees to get the most out of their HSA. Many employees with an HSA account don’t fully utilize them, causing those employees to miss out on tax savings. Bend HSA wants to ensure that you get the most out of your HSA.

Investing

Not all HSAs allow you to invest your funds. But, with Bend HSA, once your account reaches $1,000, you can invest in mutual funds, bonds, and stocks. Investments are made through Bend’s partner custodian bank, UMB Bank.

While it's great that Bend does offer investment options, it's not a point of emphasis or focus on its site. Plus, you'll be charged a $3 monthly fee if you choose to take advantage of Bend's investment options.

In July 2021, it was announced that Bend would be expanding its investment offering, adding functions like fractional share investing, multiple investment models, ETFs, and more. Unfortunately, it appears that this new experience is currently only being offered to employers and partners for now. 

When the new investment platform launches on individual accounts, it could make be a game-changer. But in the meantime, if you're primarily looking to use your HSA for investing, you might want to consider a provider like Lively HSA, which offers a great variety of free investment choices through TD Ameritrade.

Are There Any Fees?

Yes, the monthly cost for individuals is currently $2.50 per month. Employers, meanwhile, pay $1.75 per month per employee.

There are other fees to be aware of. If you switch employers and want to transfer your HSA or close it, the cost will be $15. Wire transfers also cost $15 and paper statements cost $1.50 per quarter.

Finally, if employees decide to take advantage of the investing options provided by UMB Bank, they'll be charged an Investment Access Fee of $3/month.

How Does Bend HSA Compare?

Bend HSA's fees and minimum balance requirements to waive them are about average for the industry. However, if you want to avoid monthly fees regardless of account balance, you may want to consider Lively HSA instead. Check out this quick chart for a closer look at how Bend compares to two other top HSA providers:

How Do I Open An Account?

You can visit https://www.bendhsa.com to open an account. Once your account is open, you can link it to your checking account for reimbursements.

Is My Money Safe?

Yes, funds kept in the savings portion of your HSA are FDIC-insured. However, any funds that you invest will no longer be protected by FDIC insurance.

Bend HSA takes numerous security precautions to protect your data including utilizing malware protection, leading-edge firewalls, keyless computing, and serverless computing.

How Do I Contact Bend?

Bend provides customer support from 7 AM to 7:30 PM (CT) Monday through Friday and 
8 AM to 5 PM (CT) on Saturday. To reach their team, you can call 1-877-201-3235 or email them at support@bendhsa.com.

Is It Worth It?

With its unique AI-powered advisory service, Bend HSA can help ensure you’re taking full advantage of your HSA account and tax-savings benefits at no additional cost. Given it is also very easy to use and manage, we believe Bend HSA could be well worth it.

However, if you plan to do a lot of investing in your HSA account, you may want to consider a different provider that offers more investment flexibility. Compare Bend HSA with our complete list of top HSA providers.

Bend HSA FAQs

Let's answer a few common questions people ask about Bend:

What percentage of assets does Bend HSA charge on investments?

Bend charges a flat fee for investing access rather than an AUM fee. Individuals or employees who choose to invest any portion of their HSA funds are charged $3 per month. 

Can you invest in fractional shares inside a Bend HSA?

Maybe. Bend recently launched a new investment experience powered by DriveWealth that does offer fractional share investing. But for now this functionality is only available to employers and partners.

Does Bend integrate with other business software tools?

Yes, Bend says that it works with many of the top enrollment systems, HRIS software, and payroll providers.

Does Bend offer any other types of accounts besides HSAs?

Yes, in September 2020, the company launched Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) to give employers and brokers more options to choose from.

Bend HSA Features