DC mortgage lender bonds.
0.6% of the bond amount.
The District licenses mortgage lenders through the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking, and D.C. Code § 26-1103(i) requires a surety bond with every original and renewal application — running to the Commissioner for the benefit of the District and anyone damaged by the licensee. The amount is tiered to your DC loan volume, from $12,500 to $50,000; new applicants without recent DC business file $12,500. Ours is 0.6% of the bond amount, $100 minimum, issued the moment you pay. Any credit screen is a soft pull only — it never affects your score.
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Three steps. One sitting.
The bond is the easy part of an NMLS filing. Here is the entire process:
Apply online
Business details, your bond amount tier, an effective date, and a term. That is the entire application — any credit screen is a soft pull that never shows as a hard inquiry.
Pay & e-sign
This bond is checkout-priced at 0.6% of the bond amount ($100 minimum), so it issues the moment you pay — your executed bond and power of attorney generate on the spot.
File through NMLS
DC mortgage bonds are filed electronically with your license record. Your executed bond arrives by email, ready to associate with your NMLS filing to DISB.
What it is and who needs it.
What the bond actually guarantees
The District regulates mortgage lenders under the Mortgage Lenders and Brokers Act, D.C. Code § 26-1101 et seq., administered by the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking through NMLS. Section 26-1103(i) requires a surety bond with each original application and every renewal — the license does not issue without it.
It's a three-party arrangement: you (the principal), the surety carrier, and the Commissioner as obligee — the bond runs to the Commissioner for the benefit of the District and any person damaged by a violation of the Act. The amount is tiered to the mortgage loans you originated in the District in the prior year, from $12,500 up to $50,000; an applicant with no DC business in the preceding 3 calendar years files at $12,500.
It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays a claim, you repay the surety. The bond has to stay continuously on file with your NMLS record; we track the term and send renewal notices 60 and 30 days out.
You need this bond if you're
One application, issued instantly.
These are the actual issuing fields — business details, your bond amount, an effective date, and a term. That is the entire application.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other District of Columbia bonds.
Finish your NMLS filing today.
0.6% of the bond amount, $100 minimum, issued the moment you pay. Free until issued.