Customer Service, Local Presence Important In Choosing An HSA Custodial Account

Ridgefield, NJ, April 23—Customer service and local presence are most important in choosing an HSA custodial account according to an analysis of 300,000 searches for an appropriate custodian conducted by would-be Health Savings Account depositors.

While high interest rates and low fees are still factors, greater weight was placed on ease of use and nearby local institutions by consumers, according to the latest study by Information Strategies, Inc. (ISI).

JoAnn M. Laing, ISI’s President and CEO, said there was a changing dynamic at work in the HSA arena as the number of institutions offering HSAs passed the 1,600 mark.

“Whereas in the beginning years of HSAs, a majority of depositors used institutions more than 600 miles from their home or office, that number is rapidly diminishing for new depositors.”

“Our website (www.hsafinder.com) now offers more than 180 institutions searchable by location as well as other factors,” she said. “Based on analysis of those searching for a custodian, a vast majority are opting for local institutions as well as favoring those with easy-to-use products.”

“We backed up the analysis with focus groups and interviews that strongly suggest the audience is focusing on local custodians,” she added.

Laing said the company contracted with Michigan-based Sanare Corp. to upgrade its custodial search program, which serves thousands of visitors each week who are seeking account custodians.

According to Laing, consumers first turned to their insurance company for advice but the primary influencers were colleagues, other managers and their local institution.

“We have interviewed more than 18,000 HSA users over the past four years and more than 3,000 since January 1,” Laing said. “The trend is definitely moving towards choosing local institutions.  Once we added the location feature on our site, we saw that it quickly became the most used option in consumer searches.”
She noted that Bank of America and BB&T launched HSA programs with a heavy emphasis on local branches.

Laing added that customer service in the form of the teller or branch personnel was often the most cited positive and negative reason for choosing an account custodian.

More details of the study will be available in the third quarter of this year along with an analysis of other trends in HSAs.

Information Strategies, Inc. (ISI) is a media and marketing company serving large corporations as an advisor and marketing channel and small and medium size businesses as a management information source.  It is also the parent of www.hsafinder.com, the Internet’s only independent source of data on HSAs and consumer directed healthcare issues.

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