South Carolina premium service company bonds.
$500 flat.
South Carolina will not license a company that finances insurance premiums until it has a $50,000 surety bond, or $50,000 in securities, on deposit with the Department of Insurance under S.C. Code § 38-39-30(b)(4). Ours is $500 flat, and the price you see is the checkout price. One soft credit pull, never a hard inquiry.
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How much does a South Carolina premium service company bond cost?
$500 at the $50,000 amount, the same for every applicant.
Three steps. One sitting.
The Department of Insurance processes no license application until the online filing, the fee and every required document are in, and the bond is one of those documents. Here is the bond’s part:
Apply online
Your company name, FEIN and each owner's details (or your own name and Social Security number, if you apply as an individual), an effective date and a term. The $50,000 amount is already set on the form. One soft credit pull, never a hard inquiry.
Pay & e-sign
This bond is checkout-priced, so it issues the moment you pay — your executed bond and power of attorney generate on the spot.
Send it to the Department of Insurance
Email the bond and power of attorney to the Office of Specialty Licensing at specialtylicensing@doi.sc.gov with your application checklist, on the same day you file the online application and pay the license fee on NIPR. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What it is and who needs it.
What the bond actually guarantees
An insurance premium service company is South Carolina’s name for a premium finance company. Under S.C. Code § 38-1-20 it is a person engaged in the business of entering into premium service agreements: the insured promises to repay what the company advances to an insurer, producer or broker for the insured’s premiums, plus a service charge Chapter 39 authorizes. Section 38-39-20(a) bars anyone from servicing insurance premiums in South Carolina without first obtaining a license from the Director of Insurance or his designee, and makes each unlicensed transaction a separate misdemeanor. The Department of Insurance’s Office of Specialty Licensing handles the licensing.
Section 38-39-30(b)(4) makes the bond a condition of that license: the Director issues it only when the applicant has on deposit with the department a surety bond of fifty thousand dollars, or has deposited acceptable securities of the same amount instead. Either one is held for the reimbursement of parties damaged through the company’s acts, neglects, defaults, or insolvency. Think of a policyholder whose refund never arrives after a financed policy is canceled — § 38-39-90(f) has the company promptly refund a surplus of returned premium of five dollars or more to the insured or the agent of record — or anyone left short if the company becomes insolvent.
It is a three-party arrangement: your company (the principal), the surety carrier, and the State of South Carolina (the obligee), with the bond held by the Department of Insurance. The Department’s own form, the South Carolina Premium Service Company Surety Bond, is conditioned on your company performing every provision of Chapter 39, and the surety’s liability ends, for the future only, on the Director’s written authorization — which a surety that wants out can seek by giving written notice of a termination date at least 40 days away. It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays a claim, you repay the surety. Keep the bond in force for as long as you hold the license; we send renewal notices 60 and 30 days before your term ends.
The bond is one document in a larger license file. The online application and the $1,000 license fee go through NIPR, and the same day the Department wants the application checklist emailed with, among other things, a Certificate of Existence or Authority from the Secretary of State, financial statements, an officer list with biographical affidavits, and your premium service agreement, notices and maximum rate schedule, which the Director approves under § 38-39-110. Licenses renew every other year — the window opens December 1 and closes March 1 of each even-numbered year — and an annual statement is due every March 1.
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 $50,000 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
Pay & e-sign. This bond is checkout-priced, so it issues the moment you pay — your executed bond and power of attorney generate on the spot.
What sets the price
The premium is fixed at $500 at the $50,000 amount for every applicant: the carrier’s rate book prices this bond by the form, not by your credit or your business profile.
One application, issued instantly.
These are the actual issuing fields — business and owner details, an effective date and a term; the $50,000 amount is already set. The application includes a credit consent, but it authorizes a soft credit pull only — a soft inquiry that never affects your score. No hard inquiry ever runs on this bond.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other South Carolina bonds.
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Finish your Department of Insurance license file today.
$500 flat for the $50,000 bond, issued the moment you pay, soft pull only. Free until issued.