Advancial Short-Term Jumbo Certificates Are Rate Leaders

With so many rate drops in the past two weeks, the recent modest increases on Advancial’s short-term Jumbo Certificates has resulted in Advancial being the rate leader in the 6-month, 1-year, and 18-month categories in DA’s bi-weekly CD Rates Summary.

Advancial’s long-term Certificates actually saw small rate decreases (5-8 bps) at the beginning of May, but the APYs stayed near the top of their respective term-length categories.

All of Advancial’s Certificates have 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 bps.

According to CSR, the Early Withdrawal Penalties are as follows:

• 90 days dividends for terms less than one year.
• 180 days dividends for terms between one year and three years.
• 365 days dividends for terms four years and greater.

Advancial’s Certificates are also offered as IRAs (Traditional, Roth, CESA), earning the same tiered APYs with the same funding requirements.

Funding and Accessing Maturing Funds

Certificates must be funded at the time of opening. CSR suggested the easiest (and fastest) way to fund a Certificate is through a transfer from an existing Advancial checking or savings account. (Advancial participates in the CO-OP Shared Branch network.) The other option would be to initiate a wire from an external financial institution.

Maturing funds can be distributed by check, wire ($15 fee), or transferred into an existing Advancial checking or savings account.

Beneficiaries

Unlimited beneficiaries can be named, with a Social Security number required for each beneficiary. According to CSR, beneficiaries can be listed on the online application, with no need for a separate form to be submitted. Percentages cannot be assigned; only equal shares are available.

Availability

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Advancial’s field of membership (FOM) has changed and membership in Connex no longer qualifies for Advancial membership. I asked CSR when this changed, she said she wasn’t sure. For what it’s worth, this FOM change happened sometime in the last four or five weeks.

One of my staff took a closer look at Advancial’s online application and started entering common words in the “I am an employee or member of an Advancial partner organization. Use the search field to find your employer or association” search field. When searching for "united," the United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA) popped up. According to USDAA’s website, anyone can join and there’s no cost to join. While this could possibly be a backdoor to joining, Advancial does have a history of changing the rules on association membership.

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.

Employment: Employees of hundreds SEGs also qualify for membership. Unfortunately, Advancial does not list any of the SEGs on their website, although the Online Membership Application a search field “to find your employer or association.” According to the Membership Eligibility page,

To learn if your company or association is an Advancial Select Employer Group,
please contact your local branch or our Member Service Center at 800.322.2709.

Advancial’s website doesn't have much specific information about the SEGs, but its branch locations “are in energy producing areas, as Advancial started as ARCO’s credit union catering to the oil and gas industry.” CSR stated that many of the SEGs are oil and gas industry companies.

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.

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. All of Advancial’s 13 full-service branch lobbies are temporarily closed for walk-in transactions, but drive-thru service is available at all branch locations.

Advancial membership is free and begins automatically when you open a savings account with a minimum deposit of just $5. You can also apply for a checking account with no minimum deposit.

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.

Credit Union Overview

Advancial has an overall health grade of "B+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 7.41% (excellent) based on December 31, 2019 data. In the past year, Advancial has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $64.34 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 4.8%. 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 13^th largest credit union based in Texas, with more than 93,600 members and assets in excess of $1.6 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 Jumbo Certificates Compare

When compared to the similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available nationwide, Advancial's short-term Jumbo Certificate APYs* currently rank first, regardless of minimum deposit requirements.

The above rates are accurate as of 5/6/2020.

To look for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our CD Rates Table page.

*We continue to diligently work to keep our rates up-to-date, but there have been just too many rate cuts for us to process quickly. For the time being, please be aware that the rates listed at DepositAccounts.com may not reflect the latest rates published by the banks and credit unions.