Missouri Mortgage Broker Bond

No. $50,000 is only the minimum. RSMo §443.849 tells the Division of Finance to set the penal sum from the dollar volume of loans you originate, and the Division publishes a schedule that runs $50,000, $75,000, $100,000, $150,000, $200,000, and higher — up to the $1,000,000 statutory ceiling. A brand-new licensee with no prior volume files the $50,000 minimum; the amount is recalculated as your Missouri volume grows.

Because the schedule uses two different volume ladders. On the brokered track you stay at $50,000 up to $15 million; on the funded/serviced track you cross into the $100,000 bond at just $7.5 million. In other words, a lender that funds or services loans hits each bond amount at roughly half the volume a pure broker does, and the funded/serviced ladder has no $75,000 rung at all. Quotes that show a single "$50,000" figure ignore this split entirely.

You post the bond, not its face value. Premium is a percentage of the penal sum set by underwriting — mostly your personal credit and the company financials. Well-qualified applicants generally pay about 1–3% a year, so a $50,000 bond commonly runs roughly $500–$1,500 annually, and a $100,000 bond about $1,000–$3,000. Weaker credit pushes the rate higher. Because the bond amount is fixed by the state schedule, the only variable you control is the premium rate, which is why credit matters.

Under the Missouri Residential Mortgage Brokers Licensing Act (RSMo Chapter 443), a company that for compensation brokers, funds, or services residential mortgage loans on Missouri property must be licensed by the Division of Finance and file the surety bond. Licensing runs through NMLS. Depository institutions and certain other entities are handled separately — confirm your specific status with the Division of Finance before filing.

The penal sum reflects your prior-year loan volume, so it is reviewed against the Division of Finance schedule as your reported Missouri volume changes — typically at renewal. If your volume pushes you from one bracket into the next (say from the $50,000 rung into $75,000 as a broker, or into $100,000 as a funder), you file an increased bond for the higher amount. Treat a bracket change as a filing requirement, not an optional upgrade.

Usually yes. Because these are license bonds rather than credit instruments, most carriers will still write the bond for applicants with mediocre or rough credit — the penal sum is fixed, so the surety simply prices the added risk into a higher premium rate. We shop the application across multiple Treasury-listed carriers to find the lowest rate your profile qualifies for rather than accepting the first quote.