New Jersey debt adjustment bonds.
From $750.
New Jersey licenses debt adjusters through the Department of Banking and Insurance, and the license requires a surety bond: $50,000 for your first office under N.J.A.C. 3:25-2.4, stepping up with the debtors you serve and the funds in your trust account. Ours is 1.5% of the bond amount.
Trusted by industry leaders
How much does a New Jersey debt adjustment bond cost?
1.5% of the bond amount, from $750 at the $50,000 minimum. Enter your amount in the calculator for the exact price.
Three steps. One sitting.
No underwriting queue for the standard debt adjustment bond — enter your amount, pay, and file with Banking & Insurance. Here is the whole thing:
Apply online
Your agency details, the bond amount your license requires, and the effective date — that is the application. No credit check up to $25,000. Above that, the carrier may run a soft pull, which never affects your score.
Issued the moment you pay
This bond is checkout-priced — the premium is 1.5% of the bond amount you enter, and the executed bond is generated when you pay.
File with Banking & Insurance
Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to file with your Department of Banking and Insurance license application or renewal. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What it is and who needs it.
What the debt adjustment bond guarantees
New Jersey regulates debt adjustment tightly: under the Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling Act (N.J.S.A. 17:16G-1 et seq.), only nonprofit social service and consumer credit counseling agencies may be licensed to adjust debts, and every licensee must be bonded. The bond runs to the State of New Jersey for the benefit of consumers injured by a licensee's wrongful act, omission, default, fraud, or misrepresentation — and for the Department's own unpaid assessments and penalties.
It's a three-party arrangement: your agency (the principal), the surety carrier, and the State (the obligee), with the debtors whose money moves through your trust account as the protected parties. If your agency mishandles the funds it collects to distribute to creditors, the harmed debtor can recover against the bond — and if the surety pays, your agency repays the surety.
The amount is set by regulation, not negotiation: $50,000 for the first office and $25,000 for each additional office, increased by $25,000 for each additional set of 250 New Jersey debtors serviced and $25,000 for each additional $250,000 held in your trust account. The bond must stay active for the life of your license — we track it and notify you 60 and 30 days out.
You need this bond if you're
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
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 Banking & Insurance. Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to file with your Department of Banking and Insurance license application or renewal. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What sets the price
The premium is 1.5% of the bond amount, $100 minimum: the amount the obligee sets moves the price, not your business profile.
No credit check up to $25,000. 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, issued instantly.
Enter the bond amount your license requires and the executed bond generates at checkout — 1.5% of the bond amount. No credit check up to $25,000. Above that, the carrier may run a soft pull, which never affects your score.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other New Jersey bonds.
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Finish your license checklist today.
1.5% of the bond amount, issued the moment you pay. Free until issued.