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Last updated: General Tennessee surety bond information — confirm current requirements with the licensing authority.
Tennessee Surety Bonds

Tennessee Runs Ten Different Bond Formulas— Not One Flat Rule

Ask what a Tennessee bond costs and the honest answer is “it depends which one.” A notary bond is a flat $10,000. A mortgage broker bond starts at $90,000 and is recalculated at renewal based on your own loan volume. A bonded title is priced at 1.5 times whatever the Department of Revenue says your car is worth. Nine agencies, nine statutes, none of them copying each other. This page maps every formula so you know exactly which number applies to you before you apply.

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Mortgage broker, dealer, title, probate, notary & more

Quick answer
Tennessee has no single bond rule; each agency sets its own. The notary bond is a flat $10,000, the dealer bond is $50,000, and the mortgage broker bond starts at $90,000 and is recalculated at renewal from your loan volume. Bonded titles are priced at 1.5 times the vehicle's value.
  • Who requires it: Motor Vehicle Commission (TCA 55-17-111) for dealers. Department of Financial Institutions (TCA 45-13-204) for mortgage brokers and lenders. Department of Revenue for bonded titles.
  • Amount: Dealer: $50,000. Notary: $10,000. Home improvement: $10,000. Mortgage broker: $90,000 in year one ($200,000 for lenders). Bonded title: 1.5x the vehicle value.
  • Timing: Same-day submission; most quotes within one business day.
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10
Distinct Bond Formulas
$10K–$300K
Bond Amount Range
8
Bordering States
1
Bond That Recalculates Annually

Every Tennessee Bond Formula, In One Table

Verified amounts and statute citations for the ten bond obligations we place in Tennessee. The mortgage broker and lender bond is the only one that changes size after you're licensed — see the renewal breakdown below.

The Mortgage Broker Bond Is the One to Get Right

Every other Tennessee bond on this page is flat for the life of the license. The mortgage broker and lender bond is not. Under TCA § 45-13-204, first-year licensees post a fixed amount — $90,000 for brokers, $200,000 for lenders — with no volume consideration at all. At renewal, the Department of Financial Institutions throws that fixed number out and recalculates using Rule 0180-17-.08's three-tier system, based entirely on how much Tennessee residential mortgage business you actually wrote the prior year.

That means your bond can shrink. A broker who originates under $10 million in Tennessee loans drops from a $90,000 initial bond to a $45,000 renewal bond — a 50% cut in the amount you're bonding, and roughly half the annual premium. A high-volume broker clearing $50 million or more sees the opposite: the bond climbs to $135,000. Lenders follow the same shape at higher numbers, $100,000 to $300,000. The bond also has to survive you: it must stay active for 24 months after your license expires, is revoked, or is surrendered.

  • Year 1: fixed $90,000 (broker) or $200,000 (lender) — no exceptions for volume
  • Renewal: recalculated from your actual prior-year TN loan production
  • One company bond covers every sponsored loan originator — no per-MLO bonds
  • Must stay active 24 months after license termination (TCA § 45-13-204)
Full Tennessee Mortgage Broker Bond Guide

Every Tennessee Bond We Place

One fact from each bond's full guide — not a repeat of the table above

Mortgage Broker & Lender Bond
$90K–$200K initial

The only Tennessee bond that changes size at renewal based on your own production numbers — lower-volume brokers can cut their bond in half after year one.

Full guide
Auto Dealer Bond
$50,000

Every one of Tennessee’s six dealer categories — new, used, auction, RV, motorcycle, mobility — renews on the same day: June 30 of odd-numbered years.

Full guide
Bonded Title
1.5× vehicle value

The Department of Revenue sets your vehicle’s value, not you — and cars worth $3,000 or less, or 30+ years old, skip the bond entirely.

Full guide
Probate & Conservator Bond
1×–2× estate value

93 of 95 counties route probate through the Chancery Court Clerk & Master, not a standalone probate court — only Shelby and Davidson counties differ.

Full guide
Notary Public Bond
$10,000

Tennessee notaries are elected by their county commission, not appointed by the Secretary of State — one of only a handful of states that works this way.

Full guide
Contractor Bond
$10,000 (HIC)

Only Home Improvement Contractors ($3K–$24,999 jobs) need this bond. A full Contractor License uses a financial-statement test instead — no bond at all.

Full guide
Public Works Bond
25% of contract

Most states copy the federal 100%-of-contract rule. Tennessee bonds county and municipal work at 25% of the contract price above $100,000.

Full guide
Freight Broker Bond
$75,000 (BMC-84)

This is a federal FMCSA requirement, not a state one. TN Title 65 governs carriers with trucks, not brokers who never touch the freight.

Full guide

Official Tennessee Requirements

"For the first calendar year of licensing, mortgage loan brokers must maintain a surety bond of $90,000. At renewal, bond amounts are adjusted based on the dollar amount of Tennessee residential mortgage loans originated in the preceding calendar year."
Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions (TDFI) • Tenn. Code Ann. § 45-13-204 / Rule 0180-17-.08

Eight Borders, Eight Different Bond Rulebooks

Tennessee and Missouri are tied for the most bordering states in the country — eight each. If your business straddles a state line, none of your neighbors bond the same way Tennessee does, and no bond you buy here satisfies a requirement anywhere else. There's no reciprocity.

Georgia

Requires a contractor license bond where Tennessee mostly doesn't — the two states' contractor rules diverge completely.

North Carolina

Runs its own license-bond tiers for contractors and dealers — none of them match Tennessee's flat amounts.

Virginia

A separate bonding structure entirely — check Virginia's own requirements before assuming your Tennessee bond travels.

Tennessee's other five neighbors — Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri — each set their own independent bond rules as well.

What a Tennessee Bond Actually Costs

You never pay the full bond amount — you pay a small annual premium based on credit. Shown here on the $50,000 auto dealer bond, the most common amount on this page.

See exact pricing for your bond type on our surety bond cost guide, or use a bond-specific calculator: mortgage broker, auto dealer, notary, probate, contractor, performance, and freight broker bonds.

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Tennessee Surety Bond Questions

Cross-bond questions that don't fit on any single bond's page

Why don’t Tennessee bond amounts follow one formula?
Because each Tennessee agency wrote its own bonding statute independently, and none of them borrowed a common template. The Motor Vehicle Commission uses a flat $50,000 for every dealer under TCA § 55-17-111. The Department of Financial Institutions uses a two-phase formula for mortgage brokers under TCA § 45-13-204 — a fixed amount in year one, then a volume-tiered figure at renewal. The Department of Revenue prices a bonded title at 1.5 times the vehicle’s DOR-appraised value under § 55-3-103. Chancery Court clerks set probate bonds anywhere from 1x to 2x estate value at their own discretion under § 30-1-201. And public works bonds run 25% of the contract price under § 12-4-201, not the 100% most states require. If you’re used to another state’s bonding rules, don’t assume Tennessee works the same way — check the specific statute for your bond type.
Which Tennessee bond deserves the most attention before you apply?
The mortgage broker and lender bond, because it’s the only one that changes size after you’re already licensed. Most Tennessee bonds are set-it-and-forget-it: the $50,000 dealer bond, the $10,000 notary bond, and the $10,000 home improvement bond stay flat for the life of the license. The mortgage bond does not. You post $90,000 (broker) or $200,000 (lender) for your first calendar year under TCA § 45-13-204, then at renewal the Department of Financial Institutions recalculates based on your actual prior-year Tennessee loan volume — Rule 0180-17-.08 sets three tiers per license type. A broker who originated under $10M in TN loans drops from $90,000 to $45,000. One who cleared $50M jumps to $135,000. Budget for the renewal recalculation, not just the initial number.
I hold more than one Tennessee license — do I need a separate bond for each?
Yes, in almost every combination. Tennessee bonds attach to the license, not the business entity, so a dealer who also brokers financing for customers needs both the $50,000 Motor Vehicle Commission bond and, if they meet the mortgage broker/lender licensing threshold, the separate $90,000+ Department of Financial Institutions bond — two different agencies, two different statutes, two different bonds. The one exception is the mortgage bond itself: under TCA § 45-13-204 a single company bond covers every mortgage loan originator the company sponsors, so you don’t need individual bonds per loan officer the way Massachusetts requires. Outside that exception, plan on one bond per license, not one bond per business.
Does Tennessee bond every profession that other states bond?
No — and the gap that trips people up most is general contracting. A Tennessee Contractor License ($25,000+ project value) uses a financial-statement and net-worth test through the Board for Licensing Contractors, not a surety bond. Only Home Improvement Contractors working $3,000–$24,999 residential jobs carry an actual $10,000 bond. Compare that to states like California or Georgia, where the general contractor license itself requires a bond. If you’re relocating a contracting business to Tennessee expecting to buy a GC bond, budget time for the financial-statement process instead — it’s a different application, not a substitute purchase.
Tennessee borders eight states — does that change how bonding works for multi-state businesses?
Tennessee and Missouri are tied for the most neighboring states in the country — Tennessee touches Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri. That geography means a lot of Tennessee businesses — dealers near Chattanooga, contractors near Memphis, brokers near Bristol — also hold licenses just across the state line. Every one of those neighboring states runs its own bond formula independent of Tennessee’s: Georgia and North Carolina both require contractor license bonds where Tennessee mostly doesn’t, and none of the eight uses Tennessee’s exact mortgage-bond renewal-tier structure. There’s no reciprocity — a Tennessee bond doesn’t satisfy a neighboring state’s requirement, and vice versa. Budget for a separate bond in every state where you actually hold a license.
Can I get a Tennessee surety bond with bad credit?
Yes, for most of the bonds on this page. Flat, low-dollar bonds — the $10,000 notary bond and $10,000 home improvement bond — are usually quoted instantly regardless of credit, often for a flat annual fee under $200. Larger bonds like the $50,000 dealer bond or the $90,000+ mortgage broker bond price by credit tier instead: expect roughly 1–3% of the bond amount annually with strong credit (700+), climbing to 8–12% with challenged credit. A handful of niche categories — the bonded title and larger probate bonds — sometimes require collateral instead of a straight credit-based rate when the amount is unusually high. We shop multiple Treasury-listed sureties for every application, so a low credit score rarely means no bond — just a higher rate.

Official Tennessee Resources

Government sources for every bond on this page

Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions

Mortgage broker and mortgage lender bond requirements (TCA § 45-13-204)

Tennessee Motor Vehicle Commission

$50,000 auto dealer bond requirements (TCA § 55-17-111)

Tennessee Secretary of State — Notary Division

$10,000 notary bond and county-election process (TCA § 8-16-104)

Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors

$10,000 Home Improvement Contractor bond (TCA Title 62, Ch. 6)

U.S. Treasury Surety Bond List

Federal listing of Treasury-listed surety companies, including BMC-84 freight broker bond carriers

What is a surety bond?·How to get a surety bond·Where to buy a surety bond·Cheap surety bonds·License & permit bonds·Court bonds
Eric Drummond, Licensed Surety Producer
Reviewed by
Eric Drummond, Licensed Surety Producer
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Other Tennessee Bonds

Additional surety bonds available in Tennessee

Tennessee Notary Bond

Notary public bond

Tennessee Contractor License Bond

Contractor licensing

Tennessee Auto Dealer Bond

DMV dealer licensing

Tennessee Mortgage Broker Bond

NMLS mortgage licensing

Tennessee Performance Bond

Construction & service contracts

Tennessee Probate Bond

Executors, administrators & guardians

Tennessee Freight Broker Bond

FMCSA broker authority

Nearby States

Surety bonds in neighboring states

Alabama Surety Bond

Alabama requirements, statute, and bond amount

Georgia Surety Bond

Georgia requirements, statute, and bond amount

Kentucky Surety Bond

Kentucky requirements, statute, and bond amount

Mississippi Surety Bond

Mississippi requirements, statute, and bond amount

Missouri Surety Bond

Missouri requirements, statute, and bond amount

North Carolina Surety Bond

North Carolina requirements, statute, and bond amount

More Tennessee bond requirements

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Mortgage broker, auto dealer, bonded title, probate, notary and contractor bonds — the exact formula for your license, verified against Tennessee statute.

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