Iowa third-party administrator bonds.
From $500.
Iowa will not register a third-party administrator without a surety bond on file with the Iowa Insurance Division. The amount is 10% of your prior-year average daily client account balance, between $50,000 and $1,000,000, under Iowa Admin. Code r. 191—58.3(2)"c"(1). The premium is 1% of the bond amount.
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How much does an Iowa third-party administrator bond cost?
1% of the bond amount, from $500 at the $50,000 minimum. Enter your amount in the calculator for the exact price.
Three steps. One sitting.
There is no long underwriting queue for a standard TPA bond — enter your amount, pay, and file it with your registration or renewal. Here is the whole thing:
Apply online
Company details, your FEIN, the bond amount your filing requires, and an effective date. That is the application. No credit check up to $50,000.
Pay & e-sign
Most applications approve instantly and the executed bond follows straight after purchase. Because TPA bonds start at $50,000 and can run to seven figures, a larger amount may draw a brief underwriter look.
File with the Insurance Division
Attach the executed bond to your certificate of registration application or your triennial renewal. The bond is written on the form the commissioner prescribes and is payable to the Iowa Insurance Division; a wet-ink original is mailed on request.
What it is and who needs it.
What the third-party administrator bond covers
A third-party administrator in Iowa is a person who collects charges or premiums from, or adjusts or settles claims on, Iowa residents in connection with life or health coverage or annuities — the definition in Iowa Code 510.11(2), which then carves out insurers, licensed agents whose work is limited to selling, banks and credit unions, Taft-Hartley and tax-exempt trusts, and a short list of others. If you administer a self-funded health plan, run claims for a carrier, or hold the money in between, you are the entity chapter 510 is written about, and Iowa Code 510.21 makes you hold a current certificate of registration from the commissioner of insurance.
The reason for the bond sits in Iowa Code 510.17: every charge or premium a TPA collects on an insurer’s behalf is held in a fiduciary capacity, remitted immediately or deposited in a fiduciary bank account, with per-insurer records kept by the bank and withdrawals limited to the six purposes the statute lists. The bond is the financial backstop behind that duty. It is written payable to the Iowa Insurance Division to protect the administrator’s customers, subject to the penal sum — so client and insurer funds are not left to the administrator’s solvency alone.
It is not insurance for you. If the surety pays on a claim, you reimburse the surety. Two things the Division is specific about: a certificate of liability or a fidelity (crime) bond will not be accepted in lieu of the TPA surety bond, and the bond has to be active at new application and at renewal. Registration is renewed every three years, with the renewal request due within 60 days before expiry — and a certificate left lapsed for more than a year has to be applied for from scratch. We track the date and notify you 60 and 30 days out.
You need this bond if you are
Claims, renewal, filing, and what sets the price.
If a claim is made
A court bond answers to the court and the party its order protects: if the judgment or order the bond secures is not satisfied, that party can claim against it, up to the penal sum the court set.
The surety pays a valid claim after the court rules, and you repay the surety. A court 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.
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 Insurance Division. Attach the executed bond to your certificate of registration application or your triennial renewal. The bond is written on the form the commissioner prescribes and is payable to the Iowa Insurance Division; a wet-ink original is mailed on request.
What sets the price
The premium is 1% of the bond amount, $100 minimum: the amount the obligee sets moves the price, not your business profile.
No credit check up to $50,000. Above that, the carrier may run a soft pull, which never affects your score.
Where a check runs, it decides approval; the rate is the same for everyone approved.
One application, no credit check up to $50,000.
Submit the application with the bond amount your filing requires. Most approve instantly; because these run five and six figures, a larger amount may get a brief underwriter look first.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Iowa bonds.
The same bond in nearby states.
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Registration waiting on one filing.
Enter the amount your Insurance Division filing requires and see your exact price at the application. Free until issued.