BMC-84 Surety Bond

What the bond is, in one paragraph

A surety bond is a three-party promise. You are the principal, the surety company is the guarantor, and the motor carriers and shippers you do business with are the beneficiaries. If you fail to pay a carrier what you owe them, the carrier can claim against your bond, and the surety pays. Then the surety comes to you for the money — all of it. The bond is a credit instrument dressed as a compliance filing. It is the price of the license, and it protects your counterparties, not you.

The 2026 rule tightened every timeline

FMCSA’s Broker and Freight Forwarder Financial Responsibility rule took effect January 16, 2026, and it removed most of the slack that used to exist between a problem and a suspension. The provisions that will actually reach you:

• Two business days. Your surety or trustee must notify FMCSA within two business days of any drawdown that takes your security below $75,000 — and of any determination that you are in financial failure or insolvency.
• Seven business days. From the date of FMCSA’s notice, you have seven business days to replenish the security to the full $75,000. Miss it and your operating authority is suspended.
• Thirty business days. Where the provider reports financial failure or insolvency and initiates cancellation, FMCSA suspends authority within thirty business days unless the security is replaced.
• Assets readily available. BMC-85 trusts may now only be backed by cash, irrevocable letters of credit from a federally insured depository institution, or Treasury bonds — assets that can be liquidated within seven calendar days. Trusts backed by anything else no longer qualify.
• Thirty calendar days. If FMCSA identifies your trust provider as ineligible, you get thirty days to obtain a replacement filing from a qualified provider before suspension.

Bond, or trust?

Most brokers use the BMC-84 bond because it does not require parking $75,000. You pay an annual premium — a percentage of the bond amount, set by your credit — and the surety carries the exposure. A BMC-85 trust means the money is genuinely set aside, which is why it appeals to well-capitalized brokerages and to operators whose credit makes bond pricing unattractive. The tradeoff is liquidity, and under the current rule, a narrower list of assets that count.

What the bond will not do

It will not pay a shipper’s cargo claim on your behalf and leave you whole. It will not defend you in a negligent selection suit. It will not respond when a carrier’s cargo policy denies. Those are contingent cargo, contingent auto liability and broker E&O, and they are the coverages that protect your own balance sheet. Brokers who confuse the two find out during the first serious claim.

What we need to quote it

MC number, how long the authority has been active, ownership detail, and a current financial picture. Credit-challenged and newly authorized brokers are placeable — the premium is higher and the surety may ask for collateral, but the market exists. Tell us the situation honestly on the submission and we will take it to the sureties that write it.