Surety One, Inc.

09/01/2026

Surety One, Inc. has launched CommercialCrimePolicy.com, a dedicated underwriting platform for commercial crime insurance and fidelity bonds.

A commercial crime policy is a fidelity bond under its modern name. The Surety & Fidelity Association of America broadened the classic employee dishonesty bond to add forgery, premises and transit coverage, computer fraud and funds transfer fraud, then renamed the broad form "commercial crime." Same instrument, different name, and the new site explains the history in plain English.

What it does for your clients and your organization:

Commercial crime coverage for employee theft, forgery, computer and funds transfer fraud, with social engineering (fraudulent impersonation) available by endorsement.

Three online applications, chosen up front: the commercial crime small business application, the third party fidelity bond application, and the business services (dishonesty) bond for janitorial, home care, pet sitting, handyman and similar trades. Each generates a signed, carrier ready PDF on submit.

A guide to which fidelity bond you actually need, including the statutory ERISA bond, the FINRA Form 14 and the mortgage banker bond, with direct routes to each.

Supplemental questionnaires for attorneys, hospitals, insurers, MGAs, TPAs, trucking firms and warehouses.

Underwritten by Surety One in all fifty states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Senior underwriter response the same business day.

https://www.commercialcrimepolicy.com

Fidelity bond and commercial crime coverage for employee theft, forgery, computer and funds transfer fraud, and social engineering. Underwritten by Surety One, Inc. Apply online in minutes.

08/31/2026

The federal fiscal year ends September 30. Thirty days out, are your Miller Act bonds ready?

The fourth quarter of the government's fiscal year is when agencies obligate a disproportionate share of their annual construction dollars. Awards that have sat in the pipeline all summer move fast in September, and the prime who cannot deliver a performance and payment bond at award loses the contract to the one who can.

The statutory framework under 40 U.S.C. § 3131 is simple:

✔ Performance bond at 100% of contract price on federal construction exceeding $150,000
✔ Payment bond at 100% of contract price, protecting subcontractors and suppliers who have no lien rights against the United States
✔ Payment protection required on every contract above $30,000
✔ Surety must appear on the U.S. Treasury Circular 570 list
✔ Executed on Standard Forms 25 and 25A

Surety One, Inc. writes Miller Act performance and payment bonds for USACE, NAVFAC, GSA, VA, and civilian agency work, from small task orders to large MILCON packages, through T listed, A rated carriers. Established accounts see small program bonds issued within twenty four hours. First time submissions receive a response within one hour of receipt, seven days a week.

If you are chasing September awards, send us the bid tab now, not at award.

📞 (800) 373-2804
📧 [email protected]
🔗 https://performancebond.com/performance-bonds

C. Constantin Poindexter, CPCU, JD, MA, AFSB, ASLI, ARe, AINS, AIS, CPLP
Author, The Contractor's Guide to Surety Bonds

Complete guide to performance bonds: three-party surety guarantee, Miller Act framework, penal sums, one-year maintenance, and premium ranges 1.0%-4.0%+.

08/23/2026

The DOL just announced the end of "regulation by enforcement." Good news for plan sponsors, right? Not if you're under-bonded. 🚨

EBSA's new Field Assistance Bulletin 2026-01 softens the agency's investigative posture — but it left the ERISA fidelity bond requirement completely untouched. In fact, it classified bonding violations as "routine" matters investigators must now close within 18 months. And here's the kicker: your bond status is disclosed on your Form 5500 every year, under penalty of perjury. The violation announces itself.

An ERISA bond is one of the cheapest instruments in the fidelity market. Not having one — or having the wrong one — is indefensible. Our new analysis breaks down what FAB 2026-01 actually changed, what it didn't, and the compliance checklist every plan sponsor should run before their next 5500 filing:

👉 https://erisablog.com/erisa-fidelity-bond-requirement-fab-2026-01/

EBSA's FAB 2026-01 softens enforcement, but the ERISA fidelity bond requirement is untouched. Why under-bonded plans remain exposed.

08/22/2026

$549.5 million. That's what one aluminum importer paid in May to resolve evaded antidumping duties — the largest customs-related False Claims Act recovery in history. It will not hold the record for long.

Between the DOJ's Trade Fraud Task Force, a permanent Global Trade & Commerce Enforcement Section, and Executive Order 14411, Washington has stopped treating tariff evasion as a technical customs infraction. It now prosecutes it as fraud against the fisc. EAPA investigations identified over $1 billion in evaded duties last year — roughly triple the program's historical average.

The commentary has focused on importers' prosecutorial risk. Almost no one is discussing the party standing at the center of every formal entry: the surety. And that silence is costing importers, because the enforcement surge is quietly reshaping four things at once — bond sufficiency demands, underwriting standards, collateral requirements, and the indemnity machinery that follows every bond like a shadow.

One example: because liability under a terminated bond survives for entries made during its term, an importer forced into successive, ever-larger continuous bonds accumulates "stacked" exposure across multiple bond periods. Most principals have never modeled this. Their sureties have.

CBP Commissioner Scott put the new philosophy plainly: importing "has for too long been treated as a right, not a privilege." The customs bond is the financial expression of that privilege — and it will now be priced and secured accordingly.

My full analysis of what this means for bond purchasers, foreign importers of record, and the indemnity reckoning ahead:

Escalating U.S. duty-evasion enforcement is reshaping customs bond sufficiency, surety underwriting, collateral, and indemnity exposure.

08/11/2026

Getting licensed as a mortgage broker in Massachusetts? Here is what the bond requirement actually looks like.

The Massachusetts Division of Banks requires a surety bond as a condition of licensure under MGL Chapter 255E. The amounts are set by 209 CMR 42:

✅ Mortgage broker: $75,000 flat
✅ Mortgage lender: $100,000 to $500,000 based on your Massachusetts loan volume
✅ Individual mortgage loan originator: $25,000
✅ Exempt entities: $75,000 broker activity, $100,000 lender activity

You do not pay the bond amount. You pay a premium, which is a percentage of it, determined by underwriting review of your credit and financials.

A few Massachusetts specifics worth knowing:

📌 The Commissioner can raise a lender bond at any time up to $500,000 as your MA volume grows. 📌 The bond files through the NMLS AND with the Treasurer and Receiver General of the Commonwealth. 📌 Massachusetts is not a brick and mortar state. No physical MA office required, but you must designate a registered agent or attorney in state for service of process under 209 CMR 42.09(2). 📌 If your bond cancels, the Commissioner may suspend your license and inactivate every MLO working under you.

Surety One, Inc. is a national surety leader licensed in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A+ BBB rated. We decline no application and we write non standard programs for damaged or limited credit.

Free quote, no obligation, same day issuance for qualified applicants.

👉Bond application link in comments!

📞 (800) 373-2804
✉️ [email protected]

08/09/2026

ERISA Section §4204 places special surety bond burdens on plans that incur withdrawal liability. Learn more about this bond and the tools available to you on our new portal.

New tools at ERISA4204Bonds.com compute the statutory section 4204 bond penalty, run all three 29 CFR Part 4204 variance tests, and more.

08/08/2026

BLS payroll data contradicts what carriers tell pollsters. Insurance AI job cuts, the attrition dodge, and the surety bench being dismantled.

08/06/2026

Launching a freight brokerage? Renewing your authority?

FreightBrokerSurety .com is the new home of the $75,000 BMC-84 freight broker bond, powered by Surety One, Inc. Freight forwarder bonds, household goods broker bonds, and FMC-48 OTI bonds for NVOCCs, all under one roof, with a five-step online application, financial statement upload, and same-day underwriting response. Every credit grade considered, including bad credit files. Premiums start at 1%, based on creditworthiness and financial statement strength.

🚛English and Spanish.
☎️(800) 373-2804.

🌀FreightBrokerSurety .com link in comments

08/05/2026

Seven days. That is what a freight broker now has.

FMCSA's broker and freight forwarder financial responsibility rule took effect on January 16, 2026, and the second order effects are showing up in submissions.

Three provisions matter to anyone brokering freight.

One. The trust option narrowed to almost nothing. A BMC-85 trust may now be funded only with cash, irrevocable letters of credit from federally insured depository institutions, and United States Treasury bonds. Eligibility to act as trustee narrowed to regulated depository and trust institutions. FMCSA estimated that the great majority of trustees then filing BMC-85s would not qualify under the new standard. Receivables and personal loans, long the quiet basis of cheap trust arrangements, are gone.

Two. A disqualified provider starts a thirty day clock. Where FMCSA determines that your trust provider is ineligible, you have thirty days to obtain a replacement filing from a qualified provider. No filing, no authority.

Three. A partial claim payment now threatens the license, not just the limit. Where a drawdown reduces your available security below $75,000 and you do not restore it within seven calendar days, operating authority is suspended. Your surety is obligated to tell FMCSA. This is the provision that surprises principals, because for fourteen years the bond behaved like a document you obtained once and forgot.

It no longer does. Financial responsibility is now a position you have to hold continuously, with your surety as a reporting party. Which means the choice of surety matters more in 2026 than it did in 2025.

The BMC-84 remains the rational instrument for nearly every broker. A trust commits the full seventy five thousand dollars of your own capital. A bond commits an annual premium and leaves the working capital in the business, where a freight brokerage actually needs it.

Surety One underwrites BMC-84 freight broker and freight forwarder bonds across every credit grade. Damaged credit, tax liens, prior claim activity, negative net worth. We decline no applicant. Premiums run one to fifteen percent of the penal sum, and we file electronically with FMCSA.

MC number and an application. That is the whole quote package.

https://suretyone.com/freight-broker-bond-BMC84-FMCSA

A property or freight broker is one of several classes of companies licensed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). A "broker" is a transport intermediary that specializes in pairing a customer ("shipper") that needs to move property or persons and a "carrier" that is able to mo...

07/29/2026

Treinta años suscribiendo fianzas de contrato, condensados en un solo volumen.

The Contractor's Guide to Surety Bonds: A Primer on Contract Surety Bonding for Construction Professionals ya está disponible en tapa dura y Kindle.

Lo escribí porque las mismas preguntas llegaban a mi escritorio desde seis direcciones distintas, y ninguna tenía una respuesta clara y publicada en un solo lugar.

Un contratista pregunta por qué su capacidad de afianzamiento se estancó cuando sus ingresos se duplicaron. Un agente pregunta qué lee realmente el suscriptor en un estado de obras en proceso. Un abogado pregunta si un proveedor de un sub-subcontratista tiene legitimación bajo el Miller Act. Un contador pregunta por qué la presentación por porcentaje de avance pesa más que la utilidad neta. Un dueño de proyecto pregunta cómo reclamar sin perder sus derechos bajo la fianza. Y un suscriptor nuevo hace la pregunta más antigua del oficio: ¿en qué se diferencia el afianzamiento del seguro?

El libro responde las seis.

Contenido: → Las tres modalidades: fianza de licitación, de fiel cumplimiento y de pago → Precalificación: capital, capacidad, carácter y las razones financieras que deciden el crédito → El Miller Act y los Little Miller Acts estatales: plazos de notificación, legitimación y trampas → El contrato general de indemnidad y por qué firmarlo no es un trámite → El ciclo de vida de una obra afianzada, de la licitación a la liberación final → Reclamaciones: cómo surgen, cómo se investigan y cómo se resuelven

Es un manual práctico, no un tratado. Escrito para quienes deben tomar decisiones con él en la mano.

Disponible en Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, BookBaby, Everand y NewSouth Books.

📘 https://constantinpoindexterauthor.com/

C. Constantin Poindexter, MA, JD, CPCU, AFSB, ASLI, ARe, AINS, AIS Fundador y CEO de Surety One, Inc. · Presidente de Janus Assurance Re · Socio de VSP, PLLC

A primer on contract surety bonding for every professional in the construction ecosystem — by a thirty-year veteran of the surety industry.