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Money transmitter bond amounts range from a $10,000 statutory floor in Idaho, Washington, and Wyoming to a $500,000 minimum with no ceiling in New York — and Montana requires no bond at all, because it doesn't license money transmitters. Pick your state below to see the exact floor, cap, and governing statute, then add your credit tier for an annual premium range.
Every figure on this page is pulled from the state statute or regulator publication cited next to it — not a national average. Full 50-state table is below the calculator.
- Who requires it: The state money transmitter regulator; each state’s statute is cited in the table on the page.
- Amount: A $10,000 statutory floor in Idaho, Washington and Wyoming up to a $500,000 minimum with no ceiling in New York. Many states scale the amount to volume.
- Typical cost (estimate): 0.5% to 5% of the bond amount annually: 0.5% – 1.0% with excellent credit (720+), 3.0% – 5.0% with poor credit (below 620). The surety sets the final price.
- Timing: We submit complete applications to the carrier promptly; most quotes within one business day.
Look Up Your State
Select your licensing state and credit tier for a quick estimate.
Money Transmitter Bond Amounts, All 50 States
Sorted by statutory floor, lowest to highest. States marked with an asterisk (*) have a dedicated deep-dive guide linked in the internal-links section below.
Money Transmitter Bond Floor & Cap by State
Statutory minimum and maximum, sorted lowest floor to highest
| State | Bond Range | How It Scales | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | $10,000 – $300,000 | Scales with liability | Ark. Code §23-55-201 et seq. |
| Idaho | $10,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Idaho Code §26-2908 |
| Washington | $10,000 – $550,000 | Scales with liability | Wash. Rev. Code ch. 19.230 |
| Wyoming | $10,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Wyo. Stat. §40-22-106 |
| Alaska | $25,000 – $150,000 | Scales with liability | Alaska Stat. §06.55.104 |
| Arizona | $25,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Ariz. Rev. Stat. tit. 6, ch. 12 |
| Delaware | $25,000 – $250,000 | Scales with liability | 5 Del. C. §2303 |
| Louisiana | $25,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | La. Rev. Stat. §6:1037 |
| Mississippi | $25,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Miss. Code §75-15-11 |
| Oregon | $25,000 – $150,000 | Scales with liability | Or. Rev. Stat. §717.215 |
| District of Columbia | $50,000 – $250,000 | Scales with liability | D.C. Code §26-1002 |
| Florida* | $50,000 – $2,000,000 | % of volume | Fla. Stat. §560.209 |
| Oklahoma | $50,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Okla. Stat. tit. 6 (Banking Dept.) |
| Rhode Island | $50,000 – $150,000 | Scales with liability | R.I. Gen. Laws §19-14 |
| South Carolina | $50,000 – $250,000 | Scales with liability | S.C. Code §35-11-215 |
| Tennessee | $50,000 – $800,000 | Scales with liability | Tenn. Code §45-7-136 |
| Utah | $50,000 | Fixed amount | Utah Code §7-25-204 |
| Alabama | $100,000 – $5,000,000 | Scales with liability | Ala. Code §8-7A-7 |
| Georgia* | $100,000 – $2,000,000 | Scales with liability | O.C.G.A. §7-1-683.2 |
| Hawaii | $100,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Haw. Rev. Stat. §489D-7 |
| Illinois | $100,000 – $2,000,000 | Scales with liability | 205 ILCS 658 (Uniform Money Transmission Modernization Act) |
| Iowa | $100,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Iowa Code §533C.802 |
| Maine | $100,000 | Fixed amount | 32 M.R.S. §6107 |
| Massachusetts | $100,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | 209 CMR 44.00 |
| Minnesota | $100,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Minn. Stat. §53B.60 |
| Missouri | $100,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Mo. Rev. Stat. §361.1002 (Money Transmission Modernization Act) |
| Nebraska | $100,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Neb. Rev. Stat. §8-2711 |
| Nevada | $100,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Nev. Rev. Stat. §671.100 |
| New Hampshire | $100,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | N.H. Rev. Stat. §399-G:27 |
| New Jersey | $100,000 – $1,000,000 | Scales with liability | N.J. Stat. §17:15C-8 |
| South Dakota | $100,000 | Fixed amount | S.D. Codified Laws §51A-17-4 |
| Texas* | $100,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Tex. Fin. Code §152.352 |
| Vermont | $100,000 – $2,000,000 | Scales with liability | 8 V.S.A. §2541 |
| Virginia | $100,000 – $1,000,000 | Scales with liability | Va. Code §6.2-1951 |
| West Virginia | $100,000 – $1,000,000 | Scales with liability | W. Va. Code §32A-2-10 |
| Wisconsin | $100,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Wis. Stat. ch. 217 |
| Maryland | $150,000 – $2,000,000 | Scales with liability | Md. Code, Fin. Inst. §12-412 |
| North Carolina | $150,000 – $250,000 | Scales with liability | N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 53, art. 16B |
| North Dakota | $150,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | N.D. Cent. Code §13-09-05 |
| Kansas | $200,000 – $1,000,000 | Scales with liability | Kan. Stat. §9-509 |
| California* | $250,000 – $7,000,000 | Scales with liability | Cal. Fin. Code §2037 |
| Colorado | $250,000 – $2,000,000 | Scales with liability | Colo. Rev. Stat. tit. 11, art. 110 |
| Connecticut | $300,000 – $1,000,000 | Scales with liability | Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-602 |
| Indiana | $300,000 – $500,000 | Scales with liability | Ind. Code §28-8-4.1-1002 |
| New Mexico | $300,000 – $2,000,000 | % of volume | N.M. Stat. §58-32-203 |
| Ohio | $300,000 – $2,000,000 | Scales with liability | Ohio Rev. Code §1315.07 |
| Kentucky | $500,000 – $5,000,000 | Scales with liability | Ky. Rev. Stat. §286.11-013 |
| Michigan | $500,000 – $1,500,000 | Scales with liability | Mich. Comp. Laws §487.1011 et seq. |
| New York* | $500,000+ (no cap) | Scales with liability | N.Y. Banking Law §643 |
| Pennsylvania | $1,000,000 | Fixed amount | 7 P.S. §6106 (Money Transmission Business Licensing Law) |
Montana (no bond required) omitted from this table — see the Outlier States section below. Figures are statutory floors/caps; states marked 'Scales with liability' or '% of volume' set your actual bond within that range based on your projected or trailing transmission activity.
Already know your state and projected volume? Skip straight to a live quote.
Get a quoteFour Ways States Calculate the Bond
There is no single national formula for a money transmitter bond — each state picked its own approach, and understanding which one your state uses tells you whether the number in the table above is your final answer or just your starting point.
Flat amount
A fixed number regardless of volume. Maine ($100,000), South Dakota ($100,000), and Pennsylvania ($1,000,000) all work this way — you post the same bond on day one as you would processing billions. Simplest to plan around; least forgiving if your state's flat number is high.
Scaled between a floor and a cap
The majority pattern. Your regulator calculates the actual bond from your average daily transmission liability or projected volume, landing somewhere between the statutory floor and cap. Ohio ($300K–$2M), New Jersey ($100K–$1M), and Kentucky ($500K–$5M) all use this model — the table figure is a range, not a price tag.
Percentage of transaction volume
Florida calculates 2% of your prior-year Florida transmission volume, floored at $50,000 and capped at $2,000,000 (Fla. Stat. §560.209). New Mexico uses a similar 1%-of-volume approach. Grow your Florida volume and your required bond grows with it at the next annual recalculation — automatically, without a rule change.
Floor with no statutory ceiling
New York is the outlier: Banking Law §643 sets a $500,000 minimum but never defines a maximum, giving the DFS Superintendent open-ended authority to demand more on 30 days' notice. Every other state in this table has a number, however large, where the bond stops climbing. New York doesn't.
What Credit Does to the Premium
Money transmitter bond rates run lower than most commercial bonds — 0.5% to 5% of the bond amount annually, versus the wider ranges typical of contract or fidelity bonds — because regulators already vet every applicant heavily before licensure. But at these bond sizes, a few tenths of a percentage point of rate is real money. Here's the spread on a $300,000 bond, a common mid-range figure (Ohio, Connecticut, and Indiana's floor):
Annual Premium by Credit Tier — $300,000 Bond
Based on a $300,000 bond amount
- Excellent (720+)Rate: 0.5% – 1.0%$1,500 – $3,000
- Good (680–719)Rate: 1.0% – 1.5%$3,000 – $4,500
- Fair (620–679)Rate: 1.5% – 2.5%$4,500 – $7,500
- Poor (below 620)Rate: 3.0% – 5.0%$9,000 – $15,000 or decline
Illustrative at a $300,000 bond size; scale proportionally for your state's actual floor or assigned amount. Sub-620 credit on bonds above $500,000 is typically declined outright rather than surcharged.
The Outlier States
Lowest floor: Idaho, Washington & Wyoming ($10,000)
Three states let you into the door with a $10,000 bond — Idaho Code §26-2908, Wash. Rev. Code ch. 19.230, and Wyo. Stat. §40-22-106. All three still scale up fast: Washington caps at $550,000, Idaho and Wyoming at $500,000. The low floor is a startup on-ramp, not a permanent ceiling.
Highest cap: California ($7,000,000)
California's Financial Code §2037 layers two bonds — up to $2M for stored value plus up to $5M for money received for transmission — that can stack to $7,000,000 combined for the largest DFPI-regulated licensees. No other state's statutory ceiling comes close.
No ceiling: New York
Banking Law §643's $500,000 floor is well-known; the fact that it has no statutory cap is less so. DFS can raise it indefinitely on 30 days' notice as a licensee's activity grows — see our full New York money transmitter bond breakdown for the mechanics.
No requirement: Montana
Montana has no money transmission licensing statute at all — the only state in the country without one. It doesn't create a national loophole: customers in the other 49 states still trigger those states' licensing and bonding rules regardless of where the company is incorporated.
Official New York Requirements
"The principal amount of such bond shall be no less than five hundred thousand dollars."New York Banking Law • N.Y. Banking Law §643
Money Transmitter Bond Amount Questions
Why does a money transmitter bond cost $10,000 in Idaho but $500,000 or more in New York?
State legislatures set the bond independently, and each one balances the same tradeoff differently: a low floor keeps the state open to small startups, while a high floor screens out undercapitalized applicants before they ever touch a customer's money. Idaho, Washington, and Wyoming set a $10,000 statutory floor because those states would rather let a small remittance shop in and scale the bond up with volume later. New York sets a $500,000 floor with no statutory ceiling — Banking Law §643 gives the Superintendent open-ended authority to raise it further — because DFS treats money transmission licensure itself as evidence you're already operating at a scale that warrants six-figure security. Neither approach is "right"; they're different regulatory philosophies, and if you're licensing in both states you carry both bonds simultaneously.
My state uses a formula, not a flat number — what do I actually put on my application?
For the roughly two-thirds of states that scale the bond to volume (labeled "scaled" or "volume-pct" in the table above), you don't pick a number — your regulator calculates it during underwriting from your projected or trailing money-transmission liability in that state, then issues a written determination. What you control is the input: an accurate volume forecast on your license application. Under-forecast and the state can require a bond increase mid-license, on short notice, which is a worse position than paying slightly more premium up front. The floor amount in the table above is the minimum every applicant in that state posts regardless of volume — treat it as your baseline, not your final number.
Does one bond cover me in every state I get licensed in?
No. Money transmission is licensed state by state, and each state that licenses you requires its own bond, filed against its own statute, payable to its own regulator. A company licensed in 12 states carries 12 separate bond obligations — even though most of them are filed electronically through a single NMLS company record and can often be placed through one surety relationship. Budget your total bonded exposure as the sum of every state's requirement, not the largest single one.
Is Montana's lack of a money transmitter bond requirement a loophole?
Not really, and not one worth building a business plan around. Montana is the only state that does not license money transmitters or require a bond — but a Montana-based transmitter still has to register as a Money Services Business with FinCEN under the Bank Secrecy Act, still has to comply with federal AML rules, and still needs a license (and a bond) in every other state where its customers are located, because money transmission licensing follows the customer's state, not the company's headquarters. A national money-transmission business gets essentially zero benefit from being domiciled in Montana; it still carries the other 49 states' bonds.
What credit score do I need to get approved for a $1,000,000+ money transmitter bond?
Sureties underwriting bonds above $500,000 want to see 680+ personal FICO on the principal owners plus audited financials on the entity — the bond amount alone doesn't disqualify you, but thin credit paired with a large required bond usually does. Below 620 FICO, most money-transmission sureties decline outright regardless of bond size, because the bond amounts are already large relative to typical commercial bonds and the risk of a large claim isn't one carriers price around for weak credit. If your state's bond lands above $1,000,000 and your credit is under 680, expect the underwriter to ask for a co-indemnitor, additional collateral, or audited financials before quoting — plan the underwriting file, not just the credit score.
How is this different from getting a quote directly?
This calculator gives you the statutory floor, cap, and formula type for your state quickly, plus a premium range by credit tier — enough to budget before you talk to anyone. A live quote goes further: it factors your actual projected volume (which is what most states use to set the real number above the floor), your entity's financials, and your principals' credit into a bindable rate, and can flag whether your state will accept a securities deposit or letter of credit instead of a bond. Use the calculator to scope the range; use the form below to get the number you can actually file with your regulator.
All content is researched from official state and federal sources (.gov). BuySuretyBonds.com works with Treasury-listed surety carriers.
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