Optum Bank

The tax savings honestly don't even feel worth it because of the amount of time I've had to waste trying to get reimbursed. They deny claims for reasons that make no sense, disconnect calls when you finally get through to a representative, and transfer you to the wrong numbers (at one point they sent me to ADP, who of course could do nothing about claims).

Stay away unless you want to spend countless hours chasing reimbursements just to access your own money.

Optum Bank offers a miserable experience and is overpriced for what they provide. Get away from them as soon as possible.

It took me six months to close my Optum Bank HSA and transfer it to a Fidelity HSA account. Repeated submissions of paperwork by both myself and Fidelity were denied by Optum for a variety of cryptic reasons.

No help from Optum, I realized I needed to "cash out" my investments and transfer them into a specific Optum account, from which Optum Bank could then issue a "hard-copy" check to Fidelity for the funds transfer. They would not transfer the funds electronically to Fidelity. Instead, Optum opted to issue and send a check in the mail, for which they charged me $50-75. This was in addition to the $3-6 per month they were charging to manage my investments, while they were processing the funds transfer.

I am happily invested in a long-term HSA with Fidelity, which has delivered 25% cumulative growth over the last couple of years.

Optum Bank: Never again.

Their HSA investment options are limited and expensive. Their cash account pays very little interest, and they require you to maintain a minimum balance. However, there is a way around this even if your current employer requires you to have an HSA with Optum: Create your own HSA at a more favorable financial institution (like Fidelity) that doesn't charge extra for HSA investment. You can then use this institution to electronically transfer funds out of Optum without fees and without a minimum balance requirement. Review: Optum customer service is inadequate. I had to switch from "Optum Financial" to "Optum Bank" due to a job change. They claim it is the same company, but I was required to fill out and mail a form to transfer from the former to the latter - and pay a transfer/account-closure fee. Every quarter, I use my preferred financial institution to withdraw my contributions from my Optum HSA and invest them wherever I choose at no additional cost.

Awful Service and Incredibly Slow

I had them as a company HSA benefit. In my experience, they were generally very good about reimbursing my bank account directly when I submitted claims, and I didn't need to undergo a painful proof process. However, it's July 7, and I submitted a claim for $174.54 to be paid to my provider directly on June 3. Over a month later, it is still marked as "submitted," but my provider hasn't received the payment. Now on customer support - 30 minutes in and four long holds later, I still haven't gotten the money issue resolved. I ended up learning that although I submitted my payment request on June 3, the transaction and processing on Optum’s end didn't occur until June 23-25. Now, I am discovering that my provider should receive payment by July 9. What an awful company.

I think companies choose to use Optum because of financial savings benefits, and Optum knows it. You get what you pay for, and it's clear the value you get when using Optum.

Additionally, to report your HSA debit card as lost or stolen, you have to call them during regular business hours, Monday through Friday. There is no way to do this online, unlike with practically any other banking institution. I don't appreciate the lack of security when time is of the essence after your cards have been stolen.

Horrible experience! My employer used Optum for HSA, and once I left the company, Optum started charging $10 per month for that account – that's $120 a year, not to mention they didn't even let me invest that money yet because it was not above their threshold. This bank is an absolute scam and rip-off. I'm moving my assets out of there as soon as possible.

Horrible Company! I had an FSA account with this pretense of a company. This was a "benefit" that came with my insurance through my employer. I used my account to pay for a health expense. I submitted the EOB (Explanation of Benefits) as proof of service, as well as the detailed billing for the same service. All the relevant information was on those documents: date of service, type of service, provider, amount billed, etc. Despite submitting these documents multiple times, they still insisted that the information submitted was insufficient. They recently docked my pay through my employer for insufficient documentation! Essentially, I have paid TWICE for my medical services! As a type 1 diabetic, they refused to accept documentation of a co-payment for insulin I require just to live! They claimed it was not an IRS-approved expense. I had to fight tooth and nail simply to get the approval for the documentation for the insulin co-payment. I have switched to an HSA with my employer and have been much happier. I will never do business with Optum again!

If I could rate this company ZERO stars, I sure would.

Optum Bank is hands down the most dysfunctional, unprofessional excuse for a financial institution I’ve ever had the misfortune of dealing with.

Yeah, it’s a Health Savings Account, but this joke of a company processes transactions like it’s 1998 and they’re scribbling balances on a notepad somewhere. It can take up to 10 BUSINESS DAYS for a transaction to clear. Meanwhile, your account might go negative because they move slower than a three legged armadillo in August heat.

My relationship with this circus started in June 2023.

All was quiet. No major medical expenses, no drama. 2024 rolls around. Life hits the fan, I’ve got tons of medical bills, and my card covers them all. No declines. So naturally, I assume everything’s peachy.

They closed my account in May 2024 for a negative balance - without so much as an email, a letter, smoke signals, nothing. I don’t find out until December 2024 when I called to ask about coverage for a surgery. Five different reps told me to pay the outstanding balance.

Fast forward to April 2025. I tried to call in to pay.

A new rep tells me “Oh no, you don’t have to pay that. Just apply for a new account.”

I apply. On May 11, 2025, I call in to check the status. They tell me I’m approved and it’ll be open by May 21, 2025. I should get a new card.

Fast forward to today, May 27, 2025.

I call to check in - AND GUESS WHAT? No new account. Just the same closed one. Like the world’s worst magic trick.

This is unacceptable.

I don’t know what kind of operation they’re running over there. I wouldn’t trust these people to manage a piggy bank, let alone a health savings account tied to my insurance coverage. My employer should be ashamed for contracting with these incompetents.

AVOID THEM.

If your company uses Optum Bank for your HSA, fight it. Demand literally anything else. Because you deserve better than this flaming dumpster fire of a company.

They used to be okay in the past, but starting this year, they are denying legitimate claims from dental offices, and the customer service is impossible to reach over the phone. It is outrageous.

The company is terrible. It's very difficult to receive your money from them. Customer service is laughable and never helpful. It's an absolutely horrible company.

Company is trash—it's better to opt out and just pay out of pocket. They have denied claims from actual dental offices and eye clinics. Do not use them if you do not want your money stolen. Straight up thieves

This company is absolutely garbage, especially when it comes to transit benefit cards. They tell you to wait 3-5 business days, and you end up not getting assisted because their representatives are not doing the correct thing. This company has put me at a financial disadvantage for months regarding transit benefits. They are terrible!

Really bad investment options for HSAs. You can only choose Betterment (which is quite opaque, without trading capabilities) or a limited selection of mutual funds. No ability to trade. They also will only let you invest money above 1,000 dollars and offer you a small amount of interest. The only reason anyone uses this bank is because they're locked in through their employer. It's advisable to look for other options.

Terrible bank! Absolutely terrible service! Don't expect to get any customer support... all their representatives seem to lack skills, and they’re located overseas! I wanted to transfer my HSA account from their custodian to another company. They kept me waiting for months, asked me to liquidate, which caused a significant loss for my portfolio when they could have simply journaled it off their books to my new custodian. They made me wait a month to transfer my money while deducting a monthly fee from it, and eventually charged me for the transfer. If you have time for a headache or want to stay with them forever, go ahead... otherwise, if you see this bank, run!

Basically, it's impossible to send them a simple PDF. I need to reopen an HSA account. I completed the form and uploaded it to their forms page, waited two weeks, and heard nothing. I called them asking for an update on my request. They couldn't find it. I tried uploading it again and called sooner this time; still, nobody could find it. Every time I called them, I asked if there was somebody I could simply email the form to. Apparently, that's not how their system works. These people are impossible to reach. How long could it possibly take to reopen an account? If I could get some assurance that someone with the ability to do something had received my request form, I wouldn't mind a bit of a wait. But right now, I can only assume they're neglecting their duties while I struggle to get through.

The worst company to work with. A lot of bureaucratic processes and you are unable to leave a review after phone calls. Extremely disappointing with this company.