BMC-84 Bond: The $75,000 Broker Surety Bond

Updated 9 min read

Part of Authority, Registration & Taxes

49 CFR §387.307

A broker must have a surety bond or trust fund of $75,000 in effect. FMCSA will not register a broker until it is filed, and the registration lasts only as long as the bond does.

Low-poly render of a desk with a blank certificate frame
A promise to carriers, in a form the regulator can call on.

What the bond secures

It secures the broker's performance to the people on the other side of the arrangement: shippers and motor carriers. If the broker fails to carry out its contracts — most often by not paying a carrier for a load it hauled — the bond provides for payment. The section says exactly that, and the amount is fixed at $75,000.

It is not insurance for the broker. Every dollar a surety pays out is a dollar the surety will come back to the broker for.

Low-poly render of a desk with a blank certificate frame
Security filed on paper, before the authority ever goes active.

BMC-84 against BMC-85

FormInstrumentCash tied upSuits
BMC-84Surety bond from an insurerAn annual premiumMost brokers
BMC-85Trust fund at a financial institution$75,000Brokers with cash and poor credit

The trust route requires assets aggregating to the full $75,000 that can be liquidated to cash within 7 calendar days, and the acceptable assets are narrow: cash, irrevocable letters of credit from a federally insured institution, and Treasury bonds.

What it costs to carry

A surety bond is priced as a percentage of the bonded amount, and the percentage is a credit decision. Strong credit and a clean history buy the lowest rate; a new broker with thin credit pays a multiple of it, sometimes with collateral on top. Quotes vary widely enough between sureties that getting three is worth the afternoon.

We do not publish a premium figure here because the rate is individual and moves with the market. Ask a surety for a quote on your own credit; anything you read as a flat national number is a lead magnet.

When a claim lands

A carrier that has not been paid can claim against the bond. The surety investigates, pays valid claims from the bond, and seeks recovery from the broker. Once the bond is impaired the broker has to restore it, and if it is cancelled outright the registration follows: the section makes the registration effective only as long as the security is.

Out-of-service risk. Brokering loads without an active bond is operating without registration. The bond lapse is visible in the same public record every carrier checks before hauling for you, so the commercial consequence usually arrives before the regulatory one.

Low-poly render of a shelf of identical closed binders with one gap in the row
The bond file sits with the rest of the authority paperwork. A claim is what pulls it off the shelf.

Cancellation and suspension

The current version of the section, in force since 2026-01-16, tightens two things. First, a bond or trust stays in force until it is properly ended: either side can cancel only on 30 days' written notice to FMCSA (Form BMC-36 for a bond), counted from the day the notice reaches FMCSA, or by a replacement filing that takes over on its effective date.

Second, a drained bond now stops the broker quickly. When a surety pays a claim that takes the bond below $75,000 — with the broker's consent, after the broker ignores a claim for 7 business days, or on a judgment — it must tell FMCSA within 2 business days. FMCSA then gives the broker 7 business days to show the notice was wrong, top the bond back up, or settle the claims without it; otherwise the authority is suspended.

For a carrier this is the useful part: a suspended broker can no longer legally arrange your load, so check a broker you do not know before you haul for it. Your own registrations are covered in MC numbers and operating authority and USDOT vs MC number.

Sources

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