Advancial 4-Year and 5-Year Jumbo Certificates Are Rate Leaders

It’s been a year since my last Advancial blog post. While the 4-year and 5-year Jumbo Certificate APYs increased by more than 100 bps since early October 2022, Advancial’s somewhat narrow field of membership (at the time) limited interest in the Certificates. The current easy membership requirement (see “Availability” section below) has significantly increased the intrinsic value of the Advancial 4-year and 5-year Jumbo Certificate APYs.

Advancial Certificates feature tiered APYs based on minimum opening deposits: Certificates ($1k min), Junior Jumbo Certificates ($25k min), and Jumbo Certificates ($50k min). The corresponding APYs are tiered in increments of 10-11 bps.

NB: Advancial often updates its Certificate rates at the beginning of each month. So it is possible rates may soon fall, especially if there is strong nationwide demand for the long-term Certificates.

Advancial Certificates are also offered as IRA CDs (Traditional, Roth, CESA), earning the same tiered APYs with the same deposit requirements.

Early Withdrawal Penalty

The Truth-in-Savings (TIS) disclosure for Certificates is not available on the Advancial website, but CSR sent me a copy. As stated in the TIS, the Early Withdrawal Penalty reads as follows:

For Four and Five-Year Savings Certificates, the penalty will be equal to 365 days dividends when any amount of the principal is withdrawn. In addition, you will not receive any portion of the accrued dividends for the dividend period in which you make an early withdrawal from any Savings Certificate.

If the dividends in the Savings Certificate at the time of withdrawal are insufficient to pay the entire penalty assessed, the penalty will be assessed against principal.

Availability

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Advancial’s field of membership (FOM) has changed a few times in the past four years. The FOM has alternated between an “easy membership requirement” (EMR) and a limited membership determined by residency or SEG relationship.

Thanks to a very detailed Forum post about opening an Advancial Certificate and a CD Deals Summary comment by DA reader, Steve58, it appears Advancial is back in EMR mode.

1. I started a week ago by joining the US Dog Agility Association, and as part of the sign up process I selected this as my affiliation "United States Dog Agility Association, Inc. (TX0000)" - note only Texas organization. No cost and took minutes to do.

2. I then went onto the Advancial web site and applied for a joint savings account only. Type in "dog" when asking for membership affiliation and US Dog Agility Association will show up in the pull down.

In a Live Chat yesterday, I asked if any U.S citizen, regardless of where they live, was eligible for Advancial membership by joining the US Dog Agility Association (USDAA). CSR confirmed this EMR option in a slightly awkward but humorous reply.

You are welcome to live anywhere just as long as you are a part of the US Dog Agility Association.

That being said, based on Advancial’s history of changing the FOM multiple times, I’m not sure joining USDAA will always be a path to Advancial membership. In the past, Advancial CSRs stated that one must be an employee, not merely a member, of USDAA to join. Other times in the past, Advancial CSRs stated that USDAA membership could qualify if you’re joining Advancial to apply for a loan, but not a CD or savings product. If you’re not interested in opening an Advancial Certificate at the moment, joining Advancial now through USDAA is a great way to have a membership in place for any future hot Certificate deals.

The other ways to join Advancial include,

Select Employee Groups: Employees/members of hundreds of SEGs qualify for membership. Advancial does not list any of the SEGs on its website, but the Online Membership Application does include a search field “to find your employer or association.” Most of the SEGs are companies related to the oil and gas industries and the health industry in the Dallas area. (If you type “oil” or “gas” in the search field of the online membership application, several companies do pop up.)

Residency: Individuals who live, work, worship, or attend school in the Louisiana parishes of Acadia, Avoyelles, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, or Vermillion are eligible to join. The newest addition to the residency list is the greater Charlotte, North Carolina area.

Family Relationship: Immediate family members and household members of individuals who qualify for membership through an SEG also qualify for membership. Immediate family is defined as spouse, significant other, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, grandchild, stepparent, stepchild, stepsibling, and adoptive relationships.

If you think you might qualify, the Membership Eligibility page states,

Still not sure if you qualify for an Advancial membership? Give us a call at
800.322.2709, and we will be happy to discuss an Advancial membership with you!

Account Opening

Joining Advancial and/or opening a Jumbo Certificate can be done online. The Membership Application is also available as a download and can be returned by mail. Advancial has ten full-service branch locations in Alaska (1), Louisiana (2), Oklahoma (1), and Texas (7 in the Dallas area and 2 in the Houston area).

Opening a savings account with a minimum deposit of just $5 establishes an Advancial membership.

Advancial participates in both the CO-OP Shared Branch and ATM networks, giving members access to more than 5,000 branches and nearly 30,000 surcharge-free ATMs nationwide.

Funding and Other Details

The following information is from a Live Chat with CSR.

• Funding* – ACH, wire, shared branch transaction, or internal transfer.
• CO-OP Shared Branch Participant – Yes.
• Ownership – Individual or joint.
• Dividends – Compounded/credited monthly and can be paid out by check or transferred into an Advancial checking or savings account.
• Maturing Funds – Cashier’s check to address on file or transferred into an Advancial checking or savings account.
• Grace Period – 10 calendar days before automatic renewal.
• Beneficiaries – Unlimited, with equal shares; Social Security numbers are preferred but not required.
• Credit check – ChexSystems.

*CSR suggested the easiest (and quickest) way to fund a Certificate is through a transfer from an existing Advancial checking or savings account.

Credit Union Overview

Advancial has an overall health grade of "B" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 8.55% (excellent) based on June 30, 2023 data. In the past year, Advancial’s total non-brokered deposits decreased by $231.32 million, a poor annual growth rate of -12.22%. Please refer to our financial overview of Advancial (NCUA Charter # 2285) for more details.

Chartered in 1937 as the Atlantic Federal Credit Union, Advancial is currently the 16^th largest credit union based in Texas, with more than 119,000 members and assets in excess of $2.3 billion. The original charter was issued by the Farm Credit Administration, an independent agency of the Executive Branch that was created in 1933. (If you’re wondering why a Texas-based credit union had “Atlantic” in its name, the original FOM included employees of the Atlantic Richland Company, better known as ARCO.) In 2001, the Credit Union rebranded as Advancial to better reflect its diverse membership.

How the 5-year Jumbo Certificate Compares

When compared to similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available within the FOM and have minimum deposit requirements of $50k or less, no banks or credit unions have higher rates than currently offered on the Advancial 5-year Jumbo Certificate, regardless of minimum deposit requirements. The following table compare the Advancial 5-year Jumbo Certificate to the two highest-rate CDs from other credit unions and the two highest-rate CDs from banks.

How the 4-year Jumbo Certificate Compares

When compared to similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available within the FOM and have minimum deposit requirements of $50k or less, no banks or credit unions have higher rates than currently offered on the Advancial 4-year Jumbo Certificate, regardless of minimum deposit requirements. The following table compare the Advancial 4-year Jumbo Certificate to the two highest-rate CDs from other credit unions and the two highest-rate CDs from banks.

The above information and rates are accurate as of 10/27/2023.

To search for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state-specific, please refer to our CD rates table page.