Surety Bond Blog

The term “bond” can be applied to many different financial products, but what is “business bonding”? To be bonded means that an insurance carrier is guaranteeing the performance of your business. This is not be confused with a corporate bond, which is a financial instrument used to raise capital. When a business gets bonded it does not raise capital, but does bring security to any work performed by said business.

How does business bonding work?
When a company is bonded, there are three parties involved. The first one is the company itself, referred to as the principal. The second party is the bonding company, also referred to as the surety or carrier. The third party is called the obligee. The obligee is the party that requires the business to be bonded. Here are two examples…

Example #1: The Contractor - A contractor wants to do work for a local school. The Miller Act is a law that requires the contractor to post a bond to guarantee the work. If the contractor defaults, the surety would pay another contractor to finish the work.

Example #2: The Auto Dealer - An auto dealer wants to obtain a license to sell vehicles in the state that he resides. The state licensing department requires that the auto dealer post a bond to guarantee that he will follow the states rules and regulations for selling vehicles. If the dealer were to be fraudulent, the victim could make a complaint to the state and the state could then file a claim on the bond to help the victim re-coop any moneys lost.

Some common bonding misconceptions
Getting your business bonded helps protect it - Not true, getting your business bonded actually protects your clients! If a claim arises, the surety will look to your company for repayment.

Everyone qualifies for bonding - Not everyone qualifies for surety bonding. True surety underwriting makes it so that only the most financially sound and responsible companies qualify for bonding (However, most do these days with the variety of programs available).

Everyone gets the same rate - Rates can vary greatly and can be changed due to your credit score, company’s financial strength, or what the bond is actually guaranteeing.

If you are in need of a bond, you may want to read our last article, How To Become Bonded. It highlights some of our best articles to tell you how to get the best rate for your bond and what you need to do to ensure you qualify.

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Today we are going to get back to the basics of bonding. We will go over what it means to be bonded and more importantly how to become bonded. We have gone over everything you need to know about surety bonding in previous articles. Therefore, we will highlight these standout articles rather than try to reinvent the wheel.

What Is A Surety Bond? - Learn what a surety bond actually is. You may be surprised to find out that they do not protect you whatsoever, but are a guarantee that is a form of credit.

How To Qualify For A Surety Bond - Not everyone qualifies to be bonded. Learn what you can do to ensure you are “bondable”. Reading this article will not only ensure that you get bonded, but also that you get the best possible rate!

Surety Companies: How To Choose The Best One For You - Bonding companies can vary on rates and underwriting practices. Find out what differences there are and how to go about finding the right carrier for your needs.

The process of becoming bonded is pretty strait forward:

1. Find out bond requirements
2. Apply for bond
3. Get approved
4. Sign indemnity agreement
5. Pay premium
6. Sign bond and send to obligee

If you read all of the articles above you will be well on your way to knowing what you need to do to become bonded. If you have further questions, feel free to ask them on our free surety bond forums.

When you are ready, you can apply for the bond type you need.

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In this week’s article we will review what makes a good surety company, and more importantly, what makes a good surety company specifically for you. Before we get started, I should mention that pairing you up with the right bonding company is really your bond producer’s job (see: What Makes A Good Bond Producer?). The reason we are writing this article is for the people that like additional comfort that their agent is doing their job properly. So lets get started in learning why some surety companies are better than others and how subtle differences can make a big difference to your company.

A.M. Best Ratings
A.M. Best is a well established credit rating system that grades the stability of surety companies. This is extremely important, as sometimes a bond will not be accepted by an obligee if the surety’s grade is too low. Typically a B+ grade or higher is accepted, but you will want to find out if the obligee has any specific requirements. Most bonding companies do not offer refunds on the first year’s premium, which would mean you purchased an expensive piece of paper!

Department of the Treasury’s Listing of Approved Sureties
The Treasury Department’s Circular 570 lists what bonding companies are certified to bond Federal projects. If you are in need of a bond to meet a government requirement, you will want to make sure the surety is on this list. Purchasing a bond from non-T-listed company could also result in a useless bond!

Turnaround Time
Not all sureties have the same turnaround time. With bonds being such a crucial part of your business, you need to make sure that your agent and the carrier have fast enough turnaround time (within reason). If you are getting everything your agent requested of you in a prompt manor, the agent and the carrier he/she set you up with should respond in an expeditious manor as well. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to avoid this and you may need to do some trial and error. Your agent should know what markets are particularly slow or fast in their region. Keep in mind many sureties have branches and not all branches have the same turnaround time. This means you will need to mainly rely on the knowledge of your agent.

File Updates
All bonding companies are going to ask for file updates from time to time (with the exception of smaller commercial bonds). Typical file requests are updated business and personal financials at year end and sometimes mid-year for larger accounts. It is rare, but sometimes a surety will get a bit out of hand with the amount of updates requested in comparison to other carriers. If you feel they are consistently asking for too many updates, then talk to your agent about it. If your agent agrees that you are being required to send an abnormal amount of information then you may want to further discuss finding a new bond carrier. Once again, this is something where you will heavily need to lean on the knowledge of your agent, as you do not want to change sureties unnecessarily.

Rates
When it comes to commercial surety bonds, rates can vary dramatically. Contract surety bonds do not vary quite as much, but are typically larger bonds, so a small rate change can make a big difference when it comes to the premium. Talk to your agent about what carriers would consider you and what their filed rates are. Do not try to compare your situation to someone else’s, as each applicant is different and comparing rates from one to another simply does not make sense.

Indemnification Requirements
It is rare, but there are a small amount of bonding companies willing to bond companies without personal indemnification. Obviously, Fortune 500 companies are regularly written without personal or spousal indemnification, but what about the mid-sized companies? If the issue is very important to you, your agent may be able to get your bond approved without the regular surety indemnification requirements. However, you should know, it is extremely rare these days (a company must be very financially strong) and will often result in the compromise of something else (e.g. a higher bond rate).

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Shopping for a surety bond is usually new to most of our clients. Typically, people feel very lost, as the entire process is new to them and they often don’t even know what they need. Here is a quick list to bring you up to speed on five things anyone shopping for a surety bond quote should know.

1. What is a surety bond?
Our regular clientele are required to post a surety bond in order to run their business, but they have no idea what the bond is or what it actually does. To put it simply, the bond is a guarantee of your performance. The bond form (provided by whoever is requiring the bond of you) states exactly what the bond is guaranteeing, usually a statute or contract.

2. How does bond work?
A bonding company backs a bond guaranteeing your company’s performance. In return, you pay a premium, which is a percentage of the bond amount. If you fail to perform per the terms of the bond, a claim may be placed against it. If the bonding company pays out on a claim, they will then turn to you for repayment.

3. Shopping with too many agencies can be risky
Some bonding companies will actually decline an applicant for all agents if they receive the applicant from too many different agents. This doesn’t mean that you can’t apply with more than one agency, but you will have to ensure that the agents do not apply to the same carriers.

4. Take verbal quotes with a grain of salt
When shopping for anything, you want to know the cost right away. Unfortunately, one size does not fit all when it comes to surety bond rates. Without applying, the best an agent should be able to do is give you a range, not a precise quote. Agents giving you an exact rate are usually giving you the lowest possible rate, which everyone does not qualify for.

5. Give yourself enough time
Many of our clients apply for their bond weeks or even months prior to when they need it. However, some wait until the day they actually need the bond to call their agent to say they want to move forward with an approval. You should know that all bonding companies are going to require you to sign an agreement prior to allowing the agent to issue the bond. In most cases, an original agreement and payment must be sent to the agency to get the bond issued. After that, it is not reasonable to expect same day turnaround on bond issuance (1-3 business days, depending on volume is our current policy).

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So you are told you need a surety bond. You want to get up and running as fast as possible right? Today we are going to review what to look for in a bond agency and what you can do personally in order to get your surety bond fast!

Choosing the right agency:
The single most important thing you can do when in a time crunch is to choose the right bond agency to turn around your bond quickly. Obviously the rates they have to offer are important, but here are some other things you will want to consider in order to get your bond fast.

Click here to apply with JW Surety Bonds!

What you can do to speed up the process:
Simply choosing the right agent doesn’t get you our of the woods yet. You will need to do some things on your end to make sure your original bond is in your hands as fast as possible.

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