Illinois sales finance agency bonds.
Quote on review.
A company that buys, or lends against, retail installment contracts or retail charge agreements made in Illinois needs a sales finance agency license from IDFPR and, since June 26, 2026, a $50,000 bond under 205 ILCS 660/4.3, or more if the Secretary requires it. A surety specialist quotes it, usually within one business day.
Trusted by industry leaders
How much does an Illinois sales finance agency bond cost?
It is underwritten: the premium is quoted from the bond amount and your financial picture, so there is no flat price to show.
NMLS application to filed bond.
IDFPR will not grant or keep a sales finance agency license without the bond on file in NMLS. Here is the whole process:
Send us the licensing detail
Apply online with your legal entity name, NMLS number, the bond amount and the effective date. Use the $50,000 bond unless IDFPR has told you in writing to carry more based on last year’s sales finance activity.
A surety specialist quotes it
A specialist reviews the file and the penal sum and returns a quote. There is no credit review of any kind on this application. If IDFPR has required a larger bond, the specialist tells you what, if anything, else the file needs before you commit.
Filed as an NMLS Electronic Surety Bond
Once you pay, the surety issues the bond on IDFPR’s sales finance agency form and submits it through NMLS as an Electronic Surety Bond tied to your company’s NMLS record, where the Department accepts it against your license application or existing license.
What it is and who needs it.
What the bond guarantees, and why it is new
The Sales Finance Agency Act (205 ILCS 660) regulates companies that sit behind point-of-sale credit. Section 2 defines a sales finance agency as a person, wherever it is domiciled, engaged in Illinois in the business of purchasing or making loans secured by retail installment contracts, retail charge agreements, or their outstanding balances, where the contracts were entered into in Illinois. Section 3 bars anyone from doing that business here without first obtaining a license. An out-of-state finance company buying Illinois dealer paper is covered.
For decades the Act asked only for a positive net worth. Public Act 104-516 (House Bill 5290), effective June 26, 2026, rewrote the Act’s licensing provisions and added Section 4.3. Under Section 4.3(b)(3), an applicant must submit a bond with its license application and every licensee must maintain one — in the sum of $50,000 or such additional amount as the Secretary requires based on the licensee’s sales finance activity in the previous year, written by a surety authorized in Illinois. The positive net worth test in Section 4.3(b)(2) still applies alongside it.
The bond runs to the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation and is for the benefit of the Department and of any consumer who incurs damages from the licensee’s violation of the Act or its rules. The Division of Financial Institutions administers the Act; its Director acts as the Secretary’s designee. IDFPR’s bond form is filed through NMLS as an Electronic Surety Bond, and the surety can cancel only on 30 days’ notice delivered through NMLS to the licensee and the Secretary.
It is not insurance for the licensee. If the Department recovers on the bond for a consumer or for itself, the surety looks to your company for repayment. Keeping the bond in force for as long as you hold the license is a licensing condition in its own right.
You need this bond if you are
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 bond amount. You then repay the surety: a surety bond is a guarantee of your performance, not insurance for you.
Renewal and term
Term and renewal are set in the underwriter's quote.
Keep the bond in force for as long as the obligation behind it runs.
How to file it
Filed as an NMLS Electronic Surety Bond. Once you pay, the surety issues the bond on IDFPR’s sales finance agency form and submits it through NMLS as an Electronic Surety Bond tied to your company’s NMLS record, where the Department accepts it against your license application or existing license.
What sets the price
This bond is underwritten: the premium is quoted from the bond amount and your financial picture, so there is no flat price to show.
One application, one specialist review.
These are the actual fields — your entity, NMLS number, bond amount and effective date. There is no credit section, because this application collects no credit information. Submit once and a surety specialist returns a quote, typically within one business day. Free until your bond is issued.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Illinois bonds.
Requirements checked on the carrier’s application, .
Get bonded and keep your license active.
Send us your NMLS number and the amount IDFPR requires, and a surety specialist sizes, underwrites and quotes the bond — typically within one business day. Free until issued.