North Dakota licenses collection agencies through the Department of Financial Institutions, and NDCC 13-05-04.1 requires each licensee to maintain a surety bond in the amount of $50,000 on the form the commissioner prescribes. The premium is 0.5% of the bond amount, $100 minimum — $250 at the fixed statutory amount, and the bond issues the moment you pay. Any credit screen is a soft pull only — it never affects your score.
















The collection agency bond is a straightforward statutory filing — no quote round-trip. Here is the entire process:
Business details, your NMLS record, 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 0.5% of the fixed $50,000 amount — $250 — 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 NMLS company record for the Department of Financial Institutions. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
North Dakota requires a collection agency license for anyone engaged in debt collection where the debtor resides in the state — NDCC 13-05-02 — and the Department of Financial Institutions administers the chapter and issues the license through NMLS. NDCC 13-05-04.1 requires each licensee to maintain a $50,000 surety bond in a form prescribed by the commissioner.
It's a three-party arrangement: you (the principal), the surety carrier, and the State of North Dakota through the commissioner (the obligee). The bond stands behind your compliance with Chapter 13-05 — the trust-account, recordkeeping, and conduct rules that protect the consumers and creditors whose accounts you collect. Licensees also maintain a $25,000 minimum net worth under NDCC 13-05-04.2.
It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays a claim, you repay the surety, and NDCC 13-05-04.1 requires you to file a new bond immediately upon any recovery against it. Licenses expire December 31 each year, so the bond has to stay continuously on file; we track the term and send renewal notices 60 and 30 days out.
These are the actual issuing fields — business details, an effective date, and a term. That is the entire application.
Start the application →0.5% of the bond amount — $250 for the fixed $50,000 bond, issued the moment you pay. Free until issued.