Advancial Boosts Long-Term Jumbo Certificate Rates

Texas-based Advancial recently raised the rates on most of its Jumbo Certificates, with the long-terms having the largest increases: 3-year (8 bps), 4-year (10 bps), and 5-year (13 bps). The rate increases for the short-terms Jumbo Certificates ranged from 1-3 bps.

Advancial’s 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 bps.

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

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 offers penalty-free early withdrawals,

if you have been impacted by a federal disaster event. The standard Early Withdrawal fee is waived on requests made within 60 days from the date of declaration of a federal disaster area. IRA Savings Certificates are not eligible for this offer.

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 has a field of membership (FOM) that 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.

After seeing the latest CD rate increases, I thought it would be a good idea to contact Advancial, in hopes of being told the EMR was back in place. Based on my conversation with a very helpful CSR, Advancial is probably still in non-EMR mode, but the possibility of a EMR “technically exists,” to quote CSR.

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.” According to CSR, 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.)

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.

In my July Advancial blog post, I quoted a Forum post by DA reader, AYPAddict, who pointed out in the Forum post,

I did a quick search of their SEG list and found that Costco is listed. It's worth a call to them to see if being a Costco member would qualify you to become an Advancial FCU member.

According to CSR, all Costco employees qualify for membership regardless of where they live or work, but the only Costco members who qualify are those who either joined at the Katy (TX) Costco or picked up their new membership cards at the Katy Costco.

The only other SEG I found that’s open to just about anyone is the United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA). CSR stated that joining the USDAA “technically” qualifies for Advancial membership, but it may be a YMMV (your miles may vary) situation. He said if you’re joining Advancial to apply for a loan, the USDAA membership would probably “technically” qualify, but probably wouldn’t qualify if you’re interested in opening a CD, savings, or money market account.

In the past, Advancial has limited who can open a CD. In a May 2020 review of Advancial, DA reader, remmymo, stated,

After reading field of membership on this website I clicked on the Connex link and joined. Then I filled out the Advancial membership form online. I wanted to open a large CD quickly. When I called Advancial to follow up on my application I was told that membership in Connex will not be suffice to become a member of Advancial Credit Union.

The other ways to join Advancial 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.

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 (6).

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.

Credit Union Overview

Advancial has an overall health grade of "B+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 6.53% (excellent) based on March 31, 2021 data. In the past year, Advancial has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $247.28 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 17.17%. 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 100,000 members and assets in excess of $1.9 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

Given Advancial’s unique FOM, a comparison to nationally available CDs is appropriate. When compared to the similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available nationwide, all of Advancial's long-term Jumbo Certificate APYs currently rank first, regardless of minimum deposit requirements.

The above information and rates are accurate as of 9/9/2021.

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