Hawaii's installment lender law — HRS chapter 480J, created by Act 56 of 2021 — requires a licensed small dollar installment lender to post a surety bond with a penal sum starting at $30,000, running to the State for the benefit of borrowers. This bond covers the $30,000 statutory minimum. Ours is $300 flat, the price you see is the checkout price, and the bond issues the moment you pay. Any credit screen is a soft pull only — it never affects your score.
















The installment lender bond is one of the simplest pieces of an NMLS license file. Here's the entire process:
Business details, your NMLS unique identifier, 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.
This bond is checkout-priced at $300 flat, so it issues the moment you pay — your executed bond and power of attorney generate on the spot.
Your executed bond arrives by email, ready to attach to your license record for the Hawaii Division of Financial Institutions. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
Act 56, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021, replaced Hawaii's old payday-lending regime with a licensed small dollar installment lender framework under HRS chapter 480J, effective January 1, 2022. Licensing runs through NMLS and is administered by the Division of Financial Institutions. Under HRS 480J-35, a licensee posts a surety bond with a penal sum of at least $30,000 (and up to $250,000, scaled to the annual dollar amount of loans originated).
The bond runs to the State of Hawaii as obligee, for the use and benefit of the State and of any person with a cause of action against the licensee under chapter 480J. It is conditioned on the lender faithfully conforming to the chapter and its rules, and paying the State and injured borrowers all moneys that become due under the chapter.
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 license, which renews annually through NMLS; we track the term and send renewal notices 60 and 30 days out.
These are the actual issuing fields — business details, your NMLS ID, an effective date, and a term. That is the entire application.
Start the application →$300 flat, issued the moment you pay, soft pull only. Free until issued.