Update on Advancial’s Availability and Competitive Jumbo CD Rates

DA reader, ichaelm, has been diligent over the past few months with Forum posts about CD rates offered by Advancial. Because of uncertainty about the field of membership (see Availability section below), Advancial has been missing from the bi-weekly CD Rates Summary until this week.

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 IRA CDs (Traditional, Roth, CESA), earning the same tiered APYs with the same deposit 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, making the transfer of funds relatively easy. 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 a couple of times since my first Advancial blog post in 2017. My most recent Advancial blog post (May 2020) was emended, following comments by DA readers who pointed out that the easy membership option was no longer being offered and Advancial wasn’t currently opening any new CDs. All that has changed.

In a conversation with CSR this morning, I was told joining Connex does qualify for Advancial membership and new CDs are indeed being opened. When I told CSR that Connex does not appear on the online application search field for “I am an employee or member of an Advancial partner organization,” he suggested that the online application hadn’t been updated because “Connex is a special partner organization.” Within minutes of our conversation, CSR had emailed a Connex application, an Advancial application, and a Funding Authorization form to me. These forms are all PDFs, which can be filled out and returned by email or snail-mail.

Easy Membership: Joining Connex ($5 membership fee) qualifies for membership in Advancial. According to Connex’s website, membership with Connex provides “access to a professional, online interactive network of work associates and friends, company information and jobs, and other opportunities.”

Other routes to Advancial membership include,

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.

Personal 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.

Employment: Employees/members 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.

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 all branch locations are available by phone, email, or drive thru service.

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 6.37% (excellent) based on June 30, 2020 data. In the past year, Advancial has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $65.36 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 4.54%. 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 14^th largest credit union based in Texas, with nearly 96,000 members and assets in excess of $1.7 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 Jumbo Certificate APYs currently rank first or second, regardless of minimum deposit requirements.

The above rates are accurate as of 11/18/2020.

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