If you have not already activated your health savings account (HSA) with Lincoln Financial, you must do so before you will be able to use your debit card. The online consent process to transfer your HSA from Optum Bank to Lincoln Financial is now available and must be completed today, July 14, 2025. Starting tomorrow, you can still transfer your HSA balance, but you will need to complete forms from both Optum and Lincoln Financial to do so.
Please see important information below on the steps you need to take to activate your HSA with Lincoln Financial and how you can transfer your HSA from Optum Bank to Lincoln Financial.
- Visit LincolnFinancial.com/Login and log in using your retirement plan account username and password. If you don’t have a login, simply register at LincolnFinancial.com/Register.
- Scroll down the page and under Health Savings solutions select the “Manage” button for your HSA account.
- On your first login, you will be prompted to create your mobile app username and password. The system will generate a username for you. You will have the option to skip this step and set up your mobile account later. If you skip this step, proceed to step 5.
- The password must:
- have a minimum of 8 characters, and no more than 20 characters
- contain upper and lowercase letters
- contain at least one number
- contain a special character
Before you click “submit,” record your username and password, as that is needed on the next screen. On the login screen (existing users), enter the system generated username and the password you created. Click the “Next” button to continue. Please keep a safe record of your username and password to use with the mobile app.
- To complete the activation of your account, you will be prompted to read and agree to the Terms and Conditions for an HSA. There are three agreements. Click “Read and agree” to open each agreement. After reading the agreements, scroll to the bottom of the agreement and click the box that says, “I have read and agree to the agreement,” and submit when all are completed. Note, the HSA is not fully active until you read and accept the Terms and Conditions.
- Once you agree and submit (this may take a few minutes), your account is activated. You will be prompted to enter additional information such as an alternative email, authorized user and to set up your HSA beneficiary (SSNs required). You can enter this information or click “Don’t show me this again” and then enter later through the Lincoln HSA portal. From the portal, you will also be able to order additional cards, set up your bank account for convenient reimbursement options and download the Linc2Health mobile app. For balances over $2,000, you will also have the ability to invest your HSA dollars in the same funds or a different share class of the same funds as the retirement plan lineup.
You must complete the activation process before your HSA account and debit card will be active with Lincoln Financial. You will receive reminder emails from Lincoln Financial to complete this process. If Lincoln Financial is unable to verify your personal information to set up your HSA, you will receive an email regarding identity verification.
In accordance with the USA PATRIOT Act, Federal law requires financial institutions to obtain, verify and record information that identifies each individual opening an account. If Lincoln is unable to identify all your information, your account will be put on hold. The email includes the details on the information that will be required to remove the hold and how to correct it. It’s important that you provide the required information within 60 days of receiving the first notice, otherwise your account will be closed and any contributions made to the account will be returned.
All email notifications are sent from donotreply@lincolnfinancial.lh1ondemand.com and are safe to click.
When your account has been activated, team members with an HSA balance with Optum Bank who want to transfer their account to Lincoln Financial will need to complete the below steps:
As part of the transition to Lincoln Financial, you can transfer your Optum HSA account balance. Please see important information below on how you can transfer your HSA account balance(s) from Optum Bank to Lincoln Financial. Below are the steps you will need to take to transfer your balance:
- Online consent – Click here and enter the access code (Access Code: XJOOFU) to consent to have your HSA account transfer from Optum Bank to Lincoln Financial. As a reminder, Optum bank charges a $20 transfer fee. The consent option is available from June 23, 2025, through today.
- If you consent to the transfer, you will need to complete an additional step if you have made an investment election with Optum Bank.
- You will need to liquidate your current HSA investments by Aug. 8, 2025. This applies only to balances above $2,000 where you have made investment elections. Even if you consent to transfer your account, your HSA balance will not be transferred if the investments are not liquidated by Aug. 8, 2025. Instructions on how to liquidate your HSA investments are attached this email.
- Timeline of the transfer:
- Consent to transfer window has been June 23 through today.
- The blackout period dates for Optum Bank are Aug. 8 through Sept. 2, 2025. During the blackout period, you will be unable to use your Optum account debit card or access your account balances. You have been able to use your Lincoln Financial HSA debit card since your first paycheck in July when your first contributions were deposited to your new Lincoln HSA on July 7. You also have access to the Ballad Health contribution that was made to your account on July 9.
- All funds transferring from Optum Bank are expected to be deposited in your new Lincoln Financial HSA by Sept. 2, 2025.
Team members who choose not to transfer their account balance from Optum Bank to Lincoln Financial or do not have an account balance to transfer
- If you choose not to transfer your Optum account balance to Lincoln, you will still need to activate your new HSA account with Lincoln Financial as noted above, but you do not need to complete the online consent process. You will not be charged the $20 account transfer fee, and you can leave your account open with Optum Bank. You will continue to use your Optum bank debit card for any qualified medical expenses. Optum Bank will charge a monthly service fee of $3.75 for account balances less than $5,000 (not including any investment balance). If you decide to later transfer your account, you can reach out to Optum Bank to start the process. Lincoln Financial also requires a form to be completed.
- If you do not have an account balance with Optum Bank, you will need to activate your new HSA with Lincoln Financial, but you will not need to complete the online consent process to transfer your account to Lincoln Financial. You will not be charged the $20 transfer fee.
In summary
- You can continue using your Optum Bank HSA debit card for qualified expenses until Aug. 8, 2025, with no fee.
- You will receive your new Lincoln HSA debit card in early July. You will receive an email from Lincoln when your debit card has been mailed. After you activate your account online at LincolnFinancial.com/Login, you have been able to use your new HSA debit card following your first paycheck in July when your first contributions was deposited to your new Lincoln HSA on July 7. You will also have access to the Ballad Health contribution that was made to your account on July 9.
- Please keep in mind that you will not have access to your Optum Bank HSA balance during the blackout period of Aug. 8-Sept. 2, 2025. You will have access to your Lincoln Financial HSA contributions once you activate your account and during the Optum blackout period.
- Optum will charge a one-time $20 account transfer fee. This will be deducted from the account balance that is transferred to Lincoln. This fee will apply if you transfer your HSA to Lincoln or to another provider.
- Optum Bank will charge a $3.75 per month fee, beginning in August, for account balances less than $5,000 (not including any investment balance) that are not transferred to Lincoln Financial.
- If you choose to leave your HSA account with Optum Bank and then decide to transfer your account later, you will need to contact Optum Bank’s customer support center at 866-234-8913. Assistance is available 24/7. A transfer form is also available in your Lincoln HSA account portal on the Tools & Support tab, which should be completed and sent to Optum.
The HR4U and Benefits team are available to answer any questions regarding this transition and can be contacted at 423-431-4748. Please note – they will not be able to assist with your transfer as your HSA account is your private account similar to a bank account. Also, these instructions, along with FAQs and specific Optum instructions on liquidating the investment account (if applicable to you) before transferring to Lincoln are accessible from the intranet main page and can be found on the HR site.
