Spero Financial (SC) 18-Month CD Has Near Market-Leading Rate

APY	MIN	MAX	INSTITUTION	PRODUCT
3.65%	$500	-	Spero Financial	18 Month CD
3.65%	$500	-	Spero Financial	18 Month IRA (Traditional, Roth)
3.65%	$250	-	Spero Financial	18 Month Junior CD
3.65%	$250	-	Spero Financial	18 Month CESA

Availability

Headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, Spero Financial’s field of membership (FOM) includes virtually all South Carolina residents through an easy membership requirement: members of the Carolinas Credit Union Foundation’s “Friend of the Foundation” ($15 annual membership fee) are eligible to join.

Individuals who live, work, worship, attend school, or volunteer in the South Carolina counties of Anderson, Cherokee, Columbia, Elbert, Greenville, Greenwood, Hart, Laurens, Oconee, Pickens, Spartanburg, or Union, also qualify for membership.

Immediate family members of current members or individuals who are eligible to join also qualify for membership. Immediate family is defined as “grandparents, parents, spouses, brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren, adoptive, step relations and those individuals who reside in the member or employee’s household and make up a single economic unit.”

Account Opening

There is no online membership application, per se. While there is a “Become a Member” button, it leads to a very politely worded Contact Me form. Following submission of the form, “a member representative will follow up shortly.“

Joining Spero Financial and/or opening a CD can be done at any of ten South Carolina branches, located in Anderson (3), Columbia, Easley, Greenville (2), Simpsonville, Spartanburg, and Taylors. Appointments are available and can be scheduled online.

We ask that you deposit $5 into your [Share Savings] account. This $5 will stay in the account untouched for the duration of your relationship with us.

Spero Financial participates in the CO-OP Share Branch and ATM networks, providing members with “free access to over 30,000 Shared-ATMs and over 5,000 shared banking locations.”

Funding and Other Details

The following information is from a conversation with CSR.

Funding – ACH, wire, check, or shared branch transfer.
Ownership – Individual, joint, or trust.
CO-OP Shared Branch Participant – Yes.
Early Withdrawal Penalty – 180 days of dividends on the amount being withdrawn. Partial withdrawal are allowed, but any withdrawal made within 180 days of account opening will reduce the principal.
Dividends – Compounded daily/credited quarterly; credited dividends can be pay out by check to address on file or transferred to a Spero Financial Share Savings Account.
Maturing Funds – Check to address on file or transferred to a Spero Financial Share Savings Account.
Beneficiaries – Unlimited and percentages can be assigned. Social Security numbers are preferred, but not required for beneficiaries.
Grace Period – 10 calendar days.
Credit Check – Hard pull through Equifax will be run as part of the application process.

Credit Union Overview

Spero Financial has an overall health grade of "B+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 8.08% (excellent) based on June 30, 2023 data. In the past year, Spero Financial has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $122.6 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 24.38%. Please refer to our financial overview of Spero Financial (NCUA Charter # 361) for more details.

Spero Financial is currently the tenth largest credit union headquartered in South Carolina, with nearly 51,000 members and assets in excess of $706 million. Established in 1935 by a group of Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph employees, the credit union was originally known as Greenville Telco Federal Credit Union. Founding member William Wirt Stover’s car trunk served as the first “branch location.” Between 1962-1972, the field of membership was expanded to include all telephone employees in South Carolina, prompting the SC Telco Federal Credit Union rebrand. By 2009, mergers with three other credit unions (Wunda FCU, NP Employees CU, and Liberty FCU) expanded SC Telco’s footprint in Spartanburg, Florence, Columbia, and Greenville.

The Spero Financial rebrand occurred in February 2021. According to a July 2020 CUTimes.com article,

Two leading South Carolina credit unions have announced plans to unite under a new brand name in a move they said will help them become more cost efficient and better adapt to changing regulations.

Anderson Federal Credit Union, which has 13,000 members and $106 million in assets, will join with SC Telco Federal Credit Union, which has more than 56,000 members and $380 million in assets. Together, the credit unions will have 150 years of shared history and cover 10 branch locations across the Upstate and Midlands, according to a press release from SC Telco.

Pending approval from AFCU members, the merger is projected to be complete in February 2021.

How the 18-Month CD 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 $10k or less, one credit union has a higher rate than currently offered on the Spero Financial 18-month CD. The following table compares the 18-month CD 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 12/12/2023.

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