WI fitness center bonds.
$750. Five minutes.
Wisconsin lets a fitness center collect more than $100 up front for memberships only if it posts a $25,000 surety bond with the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). Ours is $750 flat — 3% of the bond amount — and it protects members' prepaid dues if the club closes.
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Three steps. One sitting.
The fitness center bond is a fixed-amount license bond — about the simplest thing in surety:
Apply online
Business details and an effective date. That's the application — no financials, no credit check section.
Pay & e-sign
Fixed-amount license bonds like this are among the thousands of bond types that issue right after purchase. At most, 1–2 business days.
File with DATCP
Your executed bond arrives by email, ready to file with DATCP so you can start selling prepaid memberships. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
The whole pricing page.
$25,000 bond × 3% = $750, one-time per term. Fixed amount, fixed price, multi-year if you want it.
What it is and who needs it.
What the bond actually covers
Wisconsin's fitness center law (Wis. Stat. § 100.177) protects consumers who prepay for gym memberships. As a baseline, a center may not collect more than $100 in advance from a buyer before the buyer can use the facilities — unless it files a $25,000 surety bond with DATCP.
The bond is a consumer-protection guarantee. If the center closes, breaches the contract, or fails to provide the facilities and services it promised, a member can recover prepaid amounts against the bond. It's a three-party arrangement: you (the principal), the surety, and the State of Wisconsin and your members (the protected parties).
It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays a claim, you repay the surety. Centers that deliver what they sell treat the bond as the price of admission to take prepayment, not a risk.
You need this bond if you are
Five minutes. The whole thing.
These are the actual issuing fields — no credit check section, because this bond doesn't have one.
Start the application →Common questions.
If yours isn't here, the bond team can usually answer within the hour.
How much is the Wisconsin fitness center bond? +
Do I always need this bond? +
Do I pay the $25,000? +
Is there a credit check? +
When does it renew? +
Other New York bonds.
Start selling prepaid memberships today.
$750 flat, five-minute application, bond often issued in the same sitting. Free until issued.