Alabama surplus lines broker bonds.
$500 flat.
Before the Alabama Department of Insurance issues a resident surplus line broker license, the applicant files a $50,000 bond in favor of the State of Alabama — ours is $500 flat, and the price you see is the price at checkout. The penal sum is set by statute, so there is nothing to size and nothing to quote.
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How much does an Alabama surplus lines broker bond cost?
$500 at the $50,000 amount, the same for every applicant.
Three steps. One sitting.
The bond is the easy half of a surplus line broker application — the producer license and the experience requirement are the slow half. Here is the entire bond process:
Apply online
Your name or agency, address, and an effective date. No financial statements and no experience letters — those belong to the license application, not to the bond.
Pay & e-sign
Licensing bonds like this are among the thousands of bond types that issue right after purchase.
File with the Department
Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to accompany your surplus line broker application to the Alabama Department of Insurance in Montgomery. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What it is and who needs it.
What the surplus line broker bond actually guarantees
A surplus line broker places coverage with insurers that are not admitted in Alabama — the excess and surplus market that writes the risks standard carriers decline. The license sits on top of a resident property and casualty producer license: the Department looks for a combination of training and experience equivalent to high school graduation, including at least three years of recent full-time work in property and casualty, and the broker’s surplus line authority is coterminous with the producer authority underneath it.
Section 27-10-24 conditions the license on a $50,000 bond in favor of the State of Alabama, aggregate liability, written by a corporate surety the commissioner approves and kept in force for the duration of the license and any renewal. The bond carries two promises: that you will conduct business under the license in accordance with the surplus line insurance law, and that you will promptly remit the taxes that law imposes.
That second promise is the one that bites in practice. Alabama levies surplus line premium tax at 6%, and it is levied on the broker for the privilege of transacting the business, not on the unauthorized insurer. Brokers report each placement on an ID-12 within 30 days of the transaction, file the annual ID-15 return and payment by March 1 through OPTins — even for a year with zero business — and, since January 1, 2025, file quarterly transaction reports as well. Licenses run the calendar year and are renewed online by December 31. It is not insurance for you: if the surety pays a claim or unremitted tax, you repay the surety, and the bond cannot be terminated on less than thirty days’ written notice to you and to the commissioner.
You need this bond if you're
Claims, renewal, filing, and what sets the price.
If a claim is made
A claim comes from the party the bond protects, the obligee named on the form, when the duty the bond guarantees is not met.
The surety investigates and pays a valid claim, up to the $50,000 bond amount. You then repay the surety: a surety bond is a guarantee of your performance, not insurance for you.
Renewal and term
The premium covers a one-year term from the effective date you choose; a longer term is the same price per year, chosen at checkout.
Renew before the expiry date to keep the bond in force: the license, permit or contract it backs expects continuous coverage.
How to file it
File with the Department. Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to accompany your surplus line broker application to the Alabama Department of Insurance in Montgomery. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What sets the price
The premium is fixed at $500 at the $50,000 amount for every applicant: the carrier’s rate book prices this bond by the form, not by your credit or your business profile.
No credit check.
One application, issued instantly.
These are the actual issuing fields. The penal sum is fixed at $50,000 by statute, so there is nothing to size and nothing to negotiate.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Alabama bonds.
The same bond in nearby states.
Been told you need a different amount?
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Get your surplus line license moving.
$500 flat, bond often issued in the same sitting, e-signed and ready to file with the Department. Free until issued.