Business

Fraud Alert To Educators–Xpress Flex

We are posting this memo sent to Nampa School District employees as a public service to alert others who may do business with Xpress Flex. No word on the scope of the damage, but certainly not good news to folks who thought they were making a wise financial decision. There will no doubt be more on this in days to come.

From: Westfall, Allison
Subject: Problems with Xpress Flex – Please read ASAP
You are receiving this email because you participate in the flexible spending plan for medical and/or child care expenses.

We discovered late last week that Xpress Flex, the company that manages our medical and child care flexible spending accounts, appears to be no longer in business and is under investigation. In addition, some of you reported that reimbursement checks issued by Xpress Flex last week “bounced.”

Several Treasure Valley employers including the Boise School District and the College of Idaho also use Xpress Flex. The Idaho Attorney General’s Office and the State Department of Insurance have been contacted.

Fortunately, we learned of this news in time to immediately take action and “stop payment” of February’s payment to Xpress Flex. No future transfers will be made to Xpress Flex. We will be working with authorities to determine how to recover the money already sent to Xpress Flex.

In the meantime, do not submit reimbursements to Xpress Flex. We hope to identify a new plan manager quickly.

Flexible spending plans follow strict Internal Revenue Service laws that require we continue the deductions authorized by the employee.

UPDATE NOON TUESDAY: We contacted Boise School benefit office and they said they were “aware there are problems and we are working toward a resolution.” They had not notified their employees of the situation.

UPDATE 3p.m. TUESDAY: Boise Schools administration sent a memo to employees confirming the company has gone out of business. IRS and Idaho Attorney General are involved and we are told there may be “hundreds of employers” affected by the demise of Xpress Flex.

Click on MORE to read the Boise Schools memo to employees.

Dear Employee,
You are receiving this e-mail because you are a participant in the District’s Section 125 medical flex plan, and/or the dependent care reimbursement plan.

Late Friday afternoon, it was brought to the District’s attention that our Flexible Spending Account (FSA) administrator, XpressFlex, was no longer processing reimbursement requests and that some reimbursement checks did not clear the bank. Today March 2, 2010, we officially received an e-mail verifying XpressFlex is no longer in business.

We want you to know that we are working with another company to assume the administration of our plan as soon as possible, so that your claims will continue to be processed. We will be contracting with Flex-Plan Services, (Bellingham, Washington) to continue the administration of our former plan with XpressFlex. Flex Plan Services is a reputable agency and has been in the business for over 20 years. Flex-Plan Services is
working with the District to gather the data in order to take over our plan. In the meantime, we ask you do not submit reimbursement requests to XpressFlex. We will send you an e-mail once the plan is established and Flex-Plan Services is ready for transactions. You will also receive a welcome letter and additional information from Flex-Plan Services in the near future.

Please understand that IRS regulations do not allow employees to discontinue participation in our Section 125 flex plan for the remainder of the plan year – short of experiencing a qualifying family status change. We do not yet have answers to questions about the status of year-to-date contributions, how much flex money is available for the remainder of the plan year, or if plan members will lose money they have already contributed. We are working diligently to answer these questions. We continue to be in contact with XpressFlex, the State Attorney General, legal counsel, and other Treasure Valley employers who are in the same position as the Boise School District. We will share with you relevant information as it becomes available. If you have questions, you may e-mail [email protected].

We recognize this situation impacts each of you differently. Please feel free to contact Jane Barker at [email protected] or ext. 1054 or Steve Kipp at [email protected] or ext. 1042.”

Comments & Discussion

Comments are closed for this post.

  1. That company has been bad from the get go. Our business used them when they were known as Payroll America(PA). We quit using them when we received a letter from the IRS for unpaid taxes that were collected and should of been paid by PA to the IRS in the business name.

    My wife is a teacher in Boise and we do not use the flexible spending accounts via Xpress Flex based on prior experience. I feel sorry for those who do. I hope Boise Schools and other send memos of warning out too.

    Here is the domain record linking Payroll America to Xpress Flex.
    http://whois.domaintools.com/payrollamerica.com

    Recent Lawsuit
    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-iddce/case_no-1:2009cv00582/case_id-24992/

  2. FSA’s are a great benefit as long as they are administered correctly. Xpress Flex did not and has now tainted this very helpful benefit. Payroll America and Xpress Flex constantly borrowed from Paul to pay Peter. The inevitable has finally happened.

    I can help get your plan back on track. Don’t give up.

  3. I love it! FSA’s are the vehicle REPUBLICANs want you to endorse to purchase the “best health care in the world”. I had Xpress Flex and dropped it about 6 months ago. What a rip off idea. FSA’s are being pushed by R’s in the healthcare debate in congress right now as a way to reduce medical expenses.

  4. Just a thought....
    Mar 4, 2010, 10:10 am

    Dog……That comment is absolutely ridiculous and not even worth commenting on…I am surprised BG published it.

  5. Reminds me of the rules set up by the IRS regarding tax-deferred 1031 real estate exchanging. The companies holding money for clients had no oversight from the feds. It only took a few years for enterprising crooks to discover this new source of income and an exchange company in Las Vegas made off with $100M of client money. I heard that most of it has been reclaimed. This scam affected clients here in Ada County.

  6. Justa, Obama in a fit of bi-partisanship decided to include some Rebublican ideas in his healthcare bill. Why don’t you get on the internet and look up the Republican ideas for health care reform he included? As a matter of fact, I also saw it in a article in the Statesman.

    Most R’s I know, always say they are too busy to look up the facts so just stick to their beliefs.

  7. Just a thought....
    Mar 4, 2010, 4:45 pm

    Dog…..The liberal bilge that comes from the Statesman is hardly a credible non-partisan fact resource, please! Obama’s socialistic principles will only fail…look around, countries that practice under this ideology have failed. Reality…..failure IS a credible fact source. R’s do stick to their beliefs and convictions…good for them. D’s follow blindly along their leader and practice feel good legislation by starting another welfare program that only fosters dependency…..not self reliance!

    Obama’s health care plan forces me to pay for another individuals expectation of health care entitlement without bearing any responsibility paying for it. Gee…no thanks!!

  8. “Obama’s health care plan forces me to pay for another individuals expectation of health care entitlement without bearing any responsibility paying for it. Gee…no thanks!!”

    psst…….you’re already paying for it.

  9. Just a thought....
    Mar 5, 2010, 11:09 am

    Eric….point well taken. I guess I should have clarified…. We would have to pay “MORE” under his plan

  10. Justa, Go stick your head in the sand. Look up Republican health care ideas anywhere. HSA’s are in the top 4 big ideas they say will save us money.
    I never endorsed anything. Just the facts. Obviously, the facts get in the way of your logic.

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