Billions in the Dark: The Hidden Risk of Omnibus Accounts (and How We Solved It)

When you're responsible for administering HSAs, FSAs, and HRAs, trust in your technology partner isn’t optional. It’s essential.

Elevate was built to give account administrators complete financial visibility—without the manual work and limited insights of traditional systems. In doing so, we’ve solved one of the biggest pain points in the space: the lack of a true, verifiable, and transparent omnibus.

With industry-leading accuracy, automation, and transparency, Elevate gives partners something other platforms can’t: unmatched trust.

What’s the Problem with Other Platforms?

Most HSA, FSA, and HRA tech platforms pool client funds into large omnibus accounts without giving partners clear insight into what portion is actually theirs.

“We’re talking billions of dollars, and only a tiny fraction belongs to each partner. But those partners can’t see what their fraction is, and they can’t validate how it changes. It becomes a case where you just have to take their (the platform provider’s) word for it.”
—Brian Strom, CTO, Elevate

The shocking truth is that no one knows exactly what is owned by whom. That means systems often can’t confidently return funds if needed. In an extreme case where all clients needed to withdraw at once, the platform would have no reliable way to distribute funds accurately. That uncertainty creates real financial and reputational risk.

Let’s say this in another way because it is massively important and unheard of in every other area of our financial lives: most consumer account tech platforms do not have an accurate record of the muddled funds being held for their partners and the clients—and we’re talking billions of dollars here.

How Elevate Does It Differently

We built the platform with financial accuracy as a cornerstone. Elevate offers daily reconciliation, clear ownership structures, and real-time visibility into every sub-account—participant, employer, and partner.

“We finally have full visibility into every dollar we’re holding on behalf of our clients. We see at any time exactly what’s in our accounts, where it came from, and who it belongs to. We’ve never had this kind of clarity or control with any previous partner.
That kind of daily reconciliation and financial transparency gives our team confidence, makes audits faster, and helps us deliver a better experience to the employers we support.”
—Wendy Warnick, Finance Team Lead, Rocky Mountain Reserve

Here’s How It Works

1. Partner-Owned Accounts, Not Shared Pools
Unlike other providers that keep all funds in a single corporate-owned omnibus, Elevate gives partners ownership of their own omnibus bank accounts.

Each partner gets at least two dedicated accounts:

• One omnibus for HSAs (100% backed at all times)
• One omnibus for everything else (FSAs, HRAs, etc.)

That separation makes it easy to track contributions, pre-funding, claims, reimbursements, and replenishments—without mixing dollars or muddying ownership.

2. Daily, External Reconciliation of All Sub-Accounts
We reconcile the entire sub-account tree daily—not just internally, but against actual bank records. Each account balance is matched to the corresponding participant and employer accounts.

If our ledger shows $10 million, the bank shows $10 million. And not only can we prove what makes up every cent—this level of detail is available to partners at any time, right in the dashboard.

“We don’t just show our partners a balance. We show the actual bank account that holds the money. You can look at your own statement. It’s your account.”
—Brian Strom

3. Clear Line-of-Sight into Every Employer
No more guesswork. From the Elevate dashboard, partners can:

• View bank account cash flow at the partner level
• Drill into each employer’s prefund level, spend-to-date, and replenishment status
• Access individual participant accounts
• See all transactions in and out
• Forecast needs and reconcile discrepancies in real time

“We show partners a real-time, line-item view for each employer. You’ll see the prefund, the spend, and what we’re holding without the manual effort or guesswork.”
—Brian Strom

Strengthen Controls, Sell Confidently

With full transparency into how much cash is in the system, Elevate removes the guesswork. Account-level visibility helps partners catch irregularities early—like negative balances or suspicious activity—and act before small issues become big ones.

It also supports more advanced plan designs without introducing uncertainty, making it easier to sell more complex programs with confidence.

Why It Matters

Without this level of transparency, other platforms can’t guarantee accounting accuracy. Administrators risk underfunding, overdrawing accounts, or misalignments between employer liabilities and participant activity.

At Elevate, transparency isn’t just a feature. It’s part of the infrastructure. Every aspect—from partner-owned accounts to daily reconciliation—reinforces our commitment to partner trust.

Unmatched accuracy. Automated reliability. Full visibility.

That’s what earns trust.

If you're ready for a platform that gives you financial control—not just financial reports—let’s talk.

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