Ohio title agent bonds.
$1,500 flat.
Ohio requires a licensed title insurance agent who handles escrow, settlement, or closing funds to file a $150,000 surety bond with the Department of Insurance. Ours is $1,500 flat — set by our carrier for this bond, identical for every agent. A soft credit check may apply; the bond is issued when you pay.
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How much does an Ohio title agent bond cost?
$1,500 at the $150,000 amount, the same for every applicant.
Three steps to filed.
Your title agent license is waiting on this bond. Here's the entire process — no broker phone tag:
Apply once, online
Business details, owner information, effective date. That is the application — a quick soft credit check may run as part of approval.
Approved
Most are approved as soon as you apply. Any credit check that runs is a soft pull that never affects your score. If it needs a second look, one to two business days at most.
E-sign & file with the Department of Insurance
Pay online and receive the executed $150,000 bond ready to file with your title agent license. Wet-ink originals mailed whenever the state insists.
What it is and who needs it.
What the bond actually guarantees
Ohio title insurance agents who conduct closings hold large sums of other people's money in escrow. ORC 3953.23 requires those agents to maintain a $150,000 surety bond filed with the Department of Insurance, backing the honest handling of settlement and escrow funds.
The bond is for the benefit of any aggrieved person who suffers a loss from theft, misappropriation, fraud, or any other failure to properly disburse settlement, closing, or escrow funds in a real estate transaction — by the agent or its owners, employees, or officers. It runs alongside the agent's duty to keep non-directed escrow funds in an IOTA trust account under ORC 3953.231.
It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays a claim, you repay the surety. Agents who keep clean trust accounting and disburse correctly treat the bond as a license formality, not a risk.
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 $150,000 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; a longer term is the same price per year, chosen at checkout.
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
E-sign & file with the Department of Insurance. Pay online and receive the executed $150,000 bond ready to file with your title agent license. Wet-ink originals mailed whenever the state insists.
What sets the price
The premium is fixed at $1,500 at the $150,000 amount for every applicant: the carrier’s rate book prices this bond by the form, not by your credit or your business profile.
One soft credit pull, never a hard inquiry, and it never affects your score.
Where a check runs, it decides approval; the rate is the same for everyone approved.
One application, issued instantly.
These are the actual underwriting fields. A quick soft credit check may run as part of approval — never a hard inquiry. Submit once and your bond is issued when you pay.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Ohio bonds.
Been told you need a different amount?
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
The Department of Insurance is waiting on one document.
$1,500 flat, short application, bond issued when you pay. Free until issued.