Founded in 1989, FurtherSM is a national leader in health spending and savings account administration, serving more than 15,000 organizations. Headquartered in Eagan, Minn., Further services more than 800,000 accounts and holds $1.5 billion assets under management in HSA deposits. Further is an IRS-approved nonbank trustee through the U.S. Department of Treasury. Further went through a total rebrand of their business. They were formerly SelectAccount.
Partners
Devenir
Further partners with Devenir LLC, the leading HSA investment advisor in the country, to provide investment capabilities to their HSA participants. Devenir’s primary focus is to provide investment solutions for HSA accounts.
Charles Schwab
Further also partners with The Charles Schwab Corporation, a leading bank and brokerage firm based in San Francisco, CA, to offer a self directed brokerage account to account holders with assets above $10,000.
Platform
You don’t have to worry about third-party issues with Further because they own their technology. Further uses a proprietary technology platform, which is developed and maintained in house.
Further’s technology platform is secure, stable and scalable to create a seamless experience for individuals, employers, agents and health plans. Online management tools give participants direct access to everything from accounts and reporting to contributions, reimbursements and interest. Further makes the health spending process simple and seamless at every turn. Account management, customer service, and technology are united under one roof, making it easy for participants to get what they need.
Further is a unique company, founded in 1989 within a health plan. They built their operations, service and technology for the unique needs of health care. According to company officials, Further follows an annual major and minor release schedule. Updates happen throughout the year.
Fees
Q: What is the monthly maintenance fee charged by Further?
For employers, Further offers a range of HSA options, all with low fees and competitive interest rates. Pricing depends on employer group size. For more information contact a Further sales representative.
Q: Is the employee or the employer expected to pay the maintenance fee?
Further can fulfill either fee-payment model.
Q: If the employee is responsible for paying the maintenance fee, what is the balance required to avoid the maintenance fee?
Further’s monthly fee does not change based on base balance. Unlike other providers, Further charges no additional administrative fees for base HSA account services or transactions.
Q: What other fees are on the Further fee schedule?
Each HSA account comes equipped with ZERO fees for account opening and closing, replacement debit card(s), over contribution fees, online and paper account enrollment and tax statements, debit card, Automated Clearing House (ACH) or check contributions and withdrawals. Below is Further’s fee schedule:
Investments
Investment FAQs
Q: Does Further offer a pre-selected investment lineup? Self directed brokerage account? Or both?
With an HSA base balance of $1,000, members have the option to invest anything above that threshold in the Basic Investment Account, which is composed of more than 30 no-load and load-waived pre-selected mutual funds.
Members with a threshold balance of $10,000 in their investment account can choose to open a Charles Schwab self-directed brokerage account.
Q: Does Further charge a fee to access the investment account?
Further charges participants $18 per year to access investments.
Q: What is the minimum balance threshold in order to make investments?
Further has established an investment threshold of $1,000. Any excess dollars over $1,000 can be transferred to the investment account.
Q: Which mutual funds are included in the Further pre-selected investment account?
The Basic Investment Account gives employee’s employees access to a suite of more than 30 no-load and load-waived pre-selected mutual funds.
A plethora of fantastic investment options are opened up to participants via a Schwab brokerage account. This is an online trading account that offers more than 2,500 funds as well as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other investments opportunities.
Q: If an employer wanted to customize a pre-selected investment lineup, would Further be able to carry this out?
Further has the ability to customize an investment lineup to meet an employer’s needs or to mirror 401k options in conjunction with its investment partner, Charles Schwab.
Q: What are the the interest rates offered by Further?
Further offers participants three HSA account types that offer interest, including an FDIC-insured option. HSA interest rates may be found on HelloFurther.com. HSA deposit rates here.
Q: Is the investment account tightly integrated with the HSA platform? Does it require one or two passwords to get to the investment account?
Only one sign on is required to access investments.
Q: Does Further have an investment sweep feature?
Further has an investment sweep feature that is integrated into its HSA option.
Payments
The overwhelming majority of HSA users are spenders and they’re going to want to pay their healthcare bills with familiar and convenient methods such as debit cards, online bill pay, and checks.
Employers should partner with administrators that are quickly evolving with the digital transformation taking place in healthcare payments. For example, a trend we are currently seeing is the adoption of virtual cards (Apple Pay and Android Pay). Online bill pay has also been gaining traction as more and more providers—and payers—are moving to electronic payments every day. On ther other side of things, check payments are slowly being phased out as the healthcare payment revolution has progressed.
Further allows participants to pay for qualified medical expenses with a debit card and bill pay. Further doesn’t offer check books, however, members can elect to pay themselves or a provider by check.
- (✓) Bill Pay
- (✓) Debit Card
- (✗) Checks
Reimbursement
When employees pay for qualified medical expenses out-of-pocket, they should be able to access their HSA dollars multiple ways whether it be via online transfers, check disbursements, or ATM withdrawals.
Generally, the best way for employees to reimburse themselves is with electronic funds transfers (EFT) that are processed through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network. EFTs are easy, speedy, cost-effective, paperless, safe and secure.
Further participants can reimburse themselves via transfers and checks. No ATM withdrawals allowed with the Further HSA debit card.
- (✓) Transfers
- (✗) ATM Withdrawal
- (✗) Checks
Features
Employees will receive a Further debit card that can be used at the doctor's office, pharmacy, or any other qualified medical expense provider where Visa is accepted. Any time participants use their Further debit card, the transaction details will automatically be available when they log into their HSA account.
Further participants now have the added option of Digital Pay. Digital Pay allows employees to add their Further debit card to Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay digital wallets. It eliminates the need to carry a physical card and instead pay for qualified purchases or expenses using their mobile wallet, giving them added convenience and security.
Employees can use Digital Pay at most modern payment terminals where contactless payment is accepted. These are usually indicated by either the Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay logos on the terminal or by the universal contactless payment symbol. Employees can also use Digital Pay when making eligible expense purchases online or on their mobile device.
Further offers multiple options to receive and process contributions into the employees’ accounts, including:
Direct Deposit Via Payroll Provider
Online Banking via ACH - Submit contribution information online by signing into the Further Online Group Service Center
Employer Check submitted with Employer Contribution Worksheet
Maintaining records for HSA-qualified expenses is made easier by providers who offer an “electronic shoebox” feature. HSA owners need to keep accurate records, making a receipt storage and expense tracking tool a must to substantiate qualified medical expenses with receipts and appropriate documentation when the IRS comes knocking on the door. Good record keeping gives HSA participants extraordinary flexibility, especially those who currently want to pay for expenses with after-tax dollars and maximize the tax-free growth of their HSA funds.
Further helps employees keep all of their health care receipts in one place with My Records and Receipts.
It organizes their stored documents so they can easily locate them in the future – filter by date or category of expense
Quickly see the individual and accumulated balance of unreimbursed receipts for future tax-free withdrawals from an HSA
Easily upload receipts by taking a photo with their phone
Match receipts with a previously processed expense
When evaluating an administrator It's important to take into account the amount of education the administrator offers. An HSA administrator should make employee education a top priority, so each employee is able to make the best decision possible for his or her situation and maximize the benefits of an HSA. To that end, an effective administrator should offer engaging information in several formats, such as print, internet and social media, and provide updates to this information throughout the year.
Further shines when it comes to providing education and resources to employees and employers. The following is a list of the education tools and resources Further provides to employees and employers.
A robust Learning Center provides tools, resources, articles, and FAQs so that spending every day wisely is easy.
Videos - HSA Edcation
Videos - Further Platform Specific Tutorials
Call center - 120 service representatives
Decision support tools - worksheets, calculators, etc.
Blog - The Further blog provides industry insights and best practices for organizations offering health spending and savings accounts.
Quarterly newsletter, The Further Pulse
Once employees sign up and are presented with the benefits of an HSA, they are sure to have a lot of questions. An HSA administrator shouldn't just be prepared to answer those questions, but also provide top-notch customer service and account management. Again, the more knowledge employees have about their accounts and their potential, the more satisfied they'll be.
When your employees need help, Further is there to help. Their proactive approach heads off issues early and helps people feel confident in their choices. No wonder they have one of the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the industry. Highly-trained medical account spending service representatives provide unparalleled knowledge and personal support to members. It's why their members consistently give them high customer satisfaction ratings. Further’s customer solutions team goes through rigorous industry training so they’re ready to help 24/7. The result? Consistent customer satisfaction ratings over 90 percent.
On August 19th, 2019 Further announced they were going to open an additional call center in Orlando, Florida. The new Orlando office will supplement the primary Further call center located in Eagan, Minnesota, accommodate business growth and increase customer service offerings.
“The decision to expand into Orlando and open a second call center will ensure that we are continually providing unparalleled customer service as Further grows,” said Matt Marek, president and CEO. “The extension of the Orlando office will ensure that we continue to push for excellence and enhance our customer service offerings.”
Employees will undoubtedly want a mobile app that allows them to securely access their HSA while they are on the go. Mobile apps make it easy to manage an HSA account from a mobile device by providing real-time, convenient access when participants need it most. A robust mobile application will result in a positive employee experience.
Further’s HSA App provides a powerful, simple and easy-to-use modern healthcare savings tool that adds to the repertoire of fintech solutions customers use every day. As you can see from the graphic below, iOs users are extremely satisfied with the Further app.
Further offers access to health care resources and decision support tools that help consumers make educated and informed health spending and saving decisions, including: appropriate choices about where to get care, and how to pay for that care. Partners include:
Doctor on Demand telemedicine services
ZendyHealth Pick Your Price tool, which allows consumers to request and compare costs for select medical, dental, and beauty care services.
HSAs need to work with your existing benefits and payroll systems to enable automated scheduled HSA contributions and eliminate paperwork. Through payroll integration, the burden of calculations, remittance and compliance is taken off the small business person's hands. For this reason, it’s important to chose an administrator that integrates with your payroll provider.
Further integrates seamlessly with most major payroll providers.
In today’s world, managing health care claims is becoming more and more complex. With claims integration your employees’ insurance information is fed directly to their HSA, which gives them easy access to their health records and medical claims in one place. Employees’ can see if they’re they’re using in-network providers, which provider is billing for each individual service, and if the right codes have been applied to ensure proper coverage. Additionally, employees’ are also provided with information regarding their deductibles, co-pays, and out-of-pocket maximums. Certainly there numersous advantageous to integrating a health plan with an HSA, but should not be the most inportant factor in chosing an HSA administrator.
The medical crossover option makes it easier and faster to receive funds from your account. With medical crossover, your out-of-pocket medical and prescription drug claims will be electronically submitted from your insurance carrier to Further and reimbursed from your spending account.
How complex (or not) is your benefits strategy and structure? If your benefits are fairly simple – medical/prescription insurance only; one plan; one set of rates; one uniform contribution strategy; one carrier… you get the point – your benefits administration needs are fairly simple too, and your technology solution doesn’t have to carry a lot of firepower.
On the other hand, if you offer your employees multiple lines of coverage and multiple plan options within some of those lines; you have multiple divisions and/or employee classes, each with a unique premium contribution strategy; and you layer on top of that wellness incentives, spousal surcharges, voluntary benefits, employer funding of an HRA or H.S.A., and more, well then, you have an entirely different benefits administration need and your technology solution has to be robust.
Further offers a full suite of health-spending-account products, all administered on the same platform, through the same digital tools, and with a single debit card – making access to health care funds easy and clear.
Vendor Strengths and Cautions
Strengths (+)
Experienced. Leader. Top 5 administrator
Proprietary and integrated HSA platform
Single Sign-On - Integrated. One password to access all accounts.
Frictionless movement of money across multiple accounts
Gives spending and investing tools equal weight and presence
Pre-Selected Investment Lineup and Self Directed Brokerage Account give account holders options
Access to a broad variety of investments via a Charles Schwab self-directed brokerage account
Committed to being a cost-effective, feature rich HSA administrator
Fields high-performance personnel who are very knowledgeable about its products
Robust mobile app
Multiple reimbursement methods
Cautions (-)
10,000 threshold to gain access to self directed brokerage account
No first dollar investing. $1,000 investment threshold
HSAs are not their singular focus
No insurance carrier integration beyond Crossover