Maine Mortgage Broker Bond

Maine does not license a 'mortgage broker' by that name — a mortgage broker is licensed as a loan broker, and the required surety bond is $25,000. Under Title 9-A §10-202, the Maine Consumer Credit Code, the bond runs in a $25,000 aggregate amount to the State for the use of the State and any person who has a cause of action against the loan broker. The Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection applies that $25,000 to each licensed location, so a main office plus one branch means a $50,000 aggregate. If you conduct business solely as a facilitator of a refund anticipation loan or refund anticipation check, the bond drops to $10,000.

Because Maine folds residential mortgage origination into a broader 'loan broker' category under Article 10 of the Consumer Credit Code. A loan broker is defined as someone who, for a fee, arranges or offers to arrange a loan (or assists a borrower in doing so) — which captures mortgage brokers along with other consumer-loan intermediaries. So the license you apply for through NMLS is a loan broker license, the statute that sets your bond is §10-202, and the regulator is the Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection, not a separate mortgage division. The 'Maine mortgage broker bond' you were told to buy is that loan broker bond.

Per licensed location. The statute states the bond in a $25,000 aggregate amount, but the Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection requires that $25,000 for each licensed office — main office and every branch. In the Bureau's own words, a main office plus one branch requires a $50,000 aggregate bond. This is one of the most-missed details on national bond-marketplace pages, which quote a flat $25,000 with no mention of branches. If you run more than one Maine location, price the bond on your branch count, not a single figure.

No — you fall under a different license and a different bond. A supervised lender, which is what you become when you make or service supervised loans with your own funds rather than brokering to a third party, is licensed under Title 9-A §2-302. There the administrator may require a surety bond satisfactory to the Bureau in an amount not to exceed $50,000, and each branch location carries a $50,000 bond as well. So the loan broker bond and the supervised lender bond are two separate obligations sized differently — confirm which activity your Maine license actually authorizes before you buy.

Yes, and this changed recently. Beginning September 1, 2025, the Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection started accepting new and converted Electronic Surety Bonds (ESB) through NMLS, and every business holding an existing Maine supervised lender license had to convert to an ESB by January 31, 2026. In practice that means your loan broker or supervised lender bond is issued and filed electronically to the Bureau through NMLS rather than as a paper bond mailed to Augusta. We place the Bureau-accepted ESB form and complete the NMLS filing for you.

The $25,000 is the bond amount you file, not what you pay. You pay an annual premium — a percentage of that penal sum based mostly on your personal credit and business financials. Well-qualified applicants for a $25,000 Maine loan broker bond typically pay around 1% (roughly $250 a year), while applicants with credit or financial challenges pay a higher rate. Multi-location brokers pay premium on the larger aggregate amount. Because the bond amount is fixed by statute, the lever you control is your underwriting file, not the penal sum.