IL FirsTech payment agent bonds.
From $100. Enter your amount.

A retail location that takes walk-in bill payments for FirsTech, Inc. — the Decatur, Illinois payment processor behind thousands of counter pay-agent locations — is holding other people’s money between the register and settlement. FirsTech conditions the agent agreement on a surety bond guaranteeing those collections are remitted. Premiums cost 1% of the bond amount, $100 minimum; the application collects no credit information, and most applications approve instantly. Enter the amount your agent agreement names and your exact price appears at the application.

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Runs to FirsTech, Inc. as obligee — a contractual condition of the pay-agent agreement, not an Illinois statute

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Guarantees every dollar collected at the counter is remitted on the settlement schedule in your agreement

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From $100, no credit section in the application — enter your required bond amount and see your price at application

From $1001% of the bond amount, $100 minimumNo credit sectionin the applicationInstantissued the moment you pay

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How it works

Apply to filed in one sitting.

A pay-agent bond is a short, clean filing — there is no state licence queue in front of it, only your processor’s onboarding. Here is the whole thing:

TODAY · ONLINE

Apply online

Your business details, the penal sum FirsTech named, and an effective date. That is the entire application — no financial statements, no credit section.

INSTANTLY

Pay & e-sign

Pay-agent bonds are among the thousands of bond types that issue right after purchase. The application collects no credit information, and most applications approve instantly.

SAME DAY

Send it to FirsTech

Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to hand to FirsTech onboarding or your sponsoring biller. Wet-ink original mailed on request.

About this bond

What it is and who needs it.

What the pay-agent bond actually guarantees

FirsTech, Inc. runs one of the country’s larger walk-in bill payment networks — a consumer hands cash or a check across a counter at a convenience store, currency exchange, grocery service desk or utility office, and the location transmits that payment to the biller through FirsTech. The location is a retail pay agent: it never owns the money, it only holds it briefly on the way to somebody’s electric, phone, cable, loan or municipal account.

That gap between collection and settlement is exactly the exposure this bond covers. The principal is your business, the surety is the carrier, and the obligee is FirsTech, Inc. — not a state agency. If a location fails to remit what it took in, or otherwise breaches the pay-agent agreement, FirsTech can make a claim on the bond and the consumer’s payment is still made whole.

It is not insurance for you. A surety bond is a credit instrument: if the carrier pays a claim, you reimburse the carrier. Keep it in force for the life of the agent agreement — a lapse normally suspends your ability to accept payments, which is why we track the expiry and give you notice ahead of it.

Private contractual requirement — FirsTech, Inc. pay-agent agreement, not an Illinois statuteNo Illinois statute names this bond. It is a private condition of doing business as a FirsTech retail pay agent, and FirsTech — not the State — sets the penal sum, the bond form and the effective date in your agent agreement. Read that agreement before you buy, because the number in it is the number the bond has to carry. Separately, Illinois regulates money transmission through the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation under the Uniform Money Transmission Modernization Act (205 ILCS 658), and licenses currency exchanges under the Currency Exchange Act (205 ILCS 405); a bond posted to FirsTech does not satisfy either of those, and neither of those replaces this one. If you are unsure which regime touches your counter, ask IDFPR’s Currency Exchange and Money Transmitter Section before you open.

You need this bond if you are

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Joining the FirsTech agent network as a new walk-in payment location in Illinois

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Renewing an existing agent agreement whose bond is expiring or being non-renewed

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Raising your settlement limit — a higher cash exposure usually means a higher penal sum

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Adding a location or changing entities and re-papering the agent agreement under a new name

One application, issued instantly.

These are the actual issuing fields — no credit section, because this application does not collect credit information.

Start the application →

FAQ

Common questions.

How much is the Illinois FirsTech payment agent bond?Premiums cost 1% of the bond amount, with a $100 minimum. Enter the penal sum your FirsTech agent agreement names and the exact figure appears at the application — there is no quote round-trip.

What amount should I enter?The amount in your FirsTech pay-agent agreement. FirsTech sets it, generally in proportion to the cash a location is expected to hold between settlements, so a high-volume counter carries a larger penal sum than a single low-traffic store. If your onboarding packet does not state a figure, ask your FirsTech representative before you buy — the bond has to match.

Do I pay the full bond amount?No. You pay the premium, priced at 1% of the bond amount with a $100 minimum. The penal sum is the surety’s maximum exposure if a valid claim is made — it is not a deposit and nobody holds your money.

Where do I file it?With FirsTech, not with the State. Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email; you send them to FirsTech onboarding or to the biller sponsoring you into the network. We will mail a wet-ink original if they insist on one.

Does this bond replace an Illinois money transmitter or currency exchange licence?No. This is a private guarantee to FirsTech. Illinois licensing for money transmission (205 ILCS 658) and for currency exchanges (205 ILCS 405) is administered separately by IDFPR and carries its own security. If your counter needs one of those, you need it in addition to this bond.

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From $100, no credit section, bond issued the moment you pay. Enter the amount your agent agreement names. Free until issued.

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IL FirsTech payment agent bonds.From $100. Enter your amount.