What Is a Freight Broker Bond and Why It Protects You

When a freight broker fails to pay a carrier, the broker bond is often the only financial recourse available. Understanding what the BMC-84 bond is, how it works, and where its limits lie is essential knowledge for any carrier operating in the United States trucking market. The bond isn't a guarantee of full recovery — but knowing how to use it correctly can mean the difference between partial payment and nothing at all.

What the BMC-84 Broker Bond Is

The BMC-84 is a surety bond required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) as a condition of holding freight broker authority in the United States. Every licensed freight broker must maintain a continuous surety bond or trust fund of at least $75,000. This requirement has been in place since 2013, when Congress raised the minimum from the previously inadequate $10,000 level through the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21).

A surety bond is a three-party agreement. The broker is the principal. The surety company (an insurance or bonding company) issues the bond and guarantees payment up to the bond amount if the broker defaults on its obligations. The FMCSA and, by extension, carriers and shippers are the obligees — the parties the bond protects.

The bond is not insurance for the broker. It is a financial guarantee that the broker will meet their legal obligations to pay carriers and shippers. If the broker fails to pay, the surety steps in — but then pursues the broker for reimbursement.

Why the FMCSA Requires It

Without the bond requirement, there would be no financial backstop for carriers who haul freight and don't get paid. A broker can go out of business, declare bankruptcy, or simply disappear, leaving carriers with delivered loads and no recourse beyond expensive litigation. The bond creates a pool of funds that can be claimed against without requiring the carrier to pursue the broker directly through the courts.

The $75,000 requirement is also a financial qualification hurdle. Obtaining and maintaining a surety bond requires the broker to qualify with the surety company — a process that involves a credit check and financial review. Brokers with poor financial standing may not qualify for a bond at all, which effectively bars them from holding authority. This screens out some bad actors, though not all.

How to Verify a Broker's Bond Is Active

Bond status is publicly visible in the FMCSA SAFER database at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov. When you look up a broker by their MC number, the record will show their active surety bond or trust fund, including the name of the surety company, the bond amount, and the effective date. Critically, it will also show if the bond is in cancellation status.

A surety company can cancel a bond with 30 days' written notice to the FMCSA. During this 30-day window, the bond is still technically active, but the broker's authority is at risk. SAFER will display the cancellation notice and effective date. Any broker in this status should be treated as a significant credit risk — sureties cancel bonds when premiums aren't being paid, which signals financial distress.

Some brokers use a trust fund instead of a surety bond as their qualifying financial instrument. A trust fund fulfills the same $75,000 minimum requirement but is held in a designated depository. From a carrier's perspective, the protection functions similarly, though the claims process may differ slightly.

How to File a Claim Against the Bond

If a broker has failed to pay you for a completed haul, you can file a claim directly against their surety bond. The process involves contacting the surety company named in the FMCSA record. You will need to provide documentation of the unpaid freight: the rate confirmation, bill of lading, proof of delivery, invoices, and records of your attempts to collect payment.

The surety company will investigate the claim. If they determine the claim is valid — that you hauled the load and the broker failed to pay per the agreed terms — they will pay out up to the bond amount. This process can take several months. Surety companies are not obligated to pay immediately; they conduct their own due diligence.

Filing a claim does not guarantee full payment. The bond covers you only up to the $75,000 limit, and that limit is shared among all valid claimants against that bond. There is also a time limit: claims must generally be filed within 18 months of the date the transportation was performed.

The Problem When Many Carriers Claim One Bond

Here is the most significant limitation of the bond system: $75,000 is shared among all carriers and shippers with valid claims against the same broker. A broker who operates at scale — booking hundreds of loads per month — can easily accumulate unpaid claims totaling far more than $75,000 before collapsing. In these cases, each individual claimant may receive only a fraction of what they are owed.

This is not a theoretical problem. Several high-profile broker failures in recent years have resulted in dozens of carriers splitting a single $75,000 bond, with individual recoveries of a few thousand dollars each. The $75,000 minimum, while higher than the old $10,000 floor, is still widely considered inadequate given the scale of modern freight brokerage operations. Industry groups have lobbied for higher minimums, but as of 2026 the $75,000 floor remains in place.

This is why prevention — vetting brokers before you haul — is far more effective than relying on the bond as a recovery mechanism after the fact.

Trust Funds as an Alternative

As noted, some brokers use a trust fund instead of a surety bond. The trust fund must also meet the $75,000 minimum and must be held at a FMCSA-approved financial institution. From a carrier's perspective, claims against a trust fund go through a slightly different process than claims against a surety bond, but the fundamental protection is equivalent. The SAFER record will indicate whether a broker uses a bond or a trust fund.

Cross-Border Considerations for Canadian Carriers

Canadian carriers hauling loads in the United States are protected by the same BMC-84 bond system when working with US-licensed brokers. If a US broker fails to pay a Canadian carrier for US freight, the carrier can file a claim against the broker's bond following the same process as a US carrier. Canadian law does not have an equivalent mandatory broker bond system for domestic Canadian freight, though brokers operating through Loadlink and other Canadian platforms often carry voluntary bonds or insurance products. For cross-border loads, verifying the US broker's authority and bond through FMCSA SAFER is the primary protection mechanism.

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