Virginia Title Insurance Settlement Agent Bond

Get a Free Quote for Your Virginia Title Insurance Settlement Agent Bond Today

Why is a Virginia Title Insurance Settlement Agent Bond Required?

As a settlement agent, you're responsible for the funds in an escrow account, during the closing process and any necessary settlements for real estate transactions.

The Bureau of Insurance has the licensing process in place as a method of qualifying those individuals and businesses most capable of being successful as an agent.

But even with the licensing requirements in place, every year there is small fraction of agents who will purposefully and financially harm their customers so they can make more money.

Examples of these fraudulent actions can include:

• Stealing from escrow accounts
• Failing to properly deposit the correct amount in escrow accounts
• Charging unnecessarily high fees for closing or settlement services
• Creating fake or fees to obtain more of a clients money
• Failing to record fees paid to any third parties

If an agent is found guilty of these actions or similar actions that cause a client financial harm, the client can make a claim against the agent's surety bond for financial compensation.

We'll cover the $200,000 bond amount next, but this bond amount is the maximum amount any one claim can be as well as the maximum for multiple claims if that where the scenario.

Do You Have Employees?

If you have employees you'll also be required to purchase a blanket fidelity bond or an employee dishonesty bond with a $100,000 bond amount.

The process we're going through for the settlement agent bond is exactly the same for the fidelity bond.

If you're required to purchase this bond, we can help you get both done at the same time.

When you request your quote for the settlement agent bond, in the notes make sure to tell us you also want a price quote for the blanket fidelity bond.

How is a Virginia Real State Settlement Agent Bond Determined?

As you probably already know, the bond amount is $200,000 and this amount is set by the Virginia Bureau of Insurance.

To obtain this bond, it must be underwritten by a surety, or insurance company, that underwrites these types of surety bonds.

The price will be a small fraction of this amount and ultimately the price you pay will be custom based primarily these three factors:

• The personal credit of the owner or owners if there are multiple owners
• Dealership experience and industry experience
• Any prior bond claims if any owner has been licensed in the past

Using these factors and their own internal process, a surety will determine a rate and this rate multiplied by the bond amount will be the price you pay for one bond term.

We'll talk more about the bond term in a minute, but one term will last 12 months from your bond's active date.

How To Pay as Little as Possible Purchasing Your Bond

The Real Estate Settlement Agent bond amount is $200,000 which is a large bond amount in the license surety bond market.

This is all the more reason to use a specialized surety agency like Surety Bonds Direct to help you find the lowest price for your bond.

We work with highest A-rated sureties to find our customers the lowest possible price regardless of personal credit scores.

We don't even understand the reasoning, but different sureties will quote vastly different rates. And this is why it's so important to have a surety agency working for you.

Let's look at example prices based on the most common rates we see with this settlement agent bond.

Pay close attention to how the price will drastically change from one percentage point to two percentage points.

As you can see, getting a one to two percent lower rate will save you thousands of dollars. And that's what we hope to do for you.

Getting pricing takes less than one business day so, click here and start the online quote process. It takes 90 seconds to submit your request.

If you prefer to speak with a bond specialist, you can call 1-800-608-9950.

What Happens After You Purchase Your Settlement Agent Bond?

Once you get pricing, your quote is good for 30 days. If you wait beyond 30 days, we will have to re-quote you and there is no guarantee the pricing stays the same.

When you're ready to purchase your bond, all you have to do is complete an online purchase form. After your payment processes, our bond issuance team will prepare your bond with the:

• Correct settlement agent bond form
• Signatures and seals
• Required power of attorney

When your bond is ready, we will email you a copy of the bond if you want for your records, but the Bureau of Insurance wants the original bond. We will mail the bond to you so you can send it to them. Keep in mind this will add 3 to 4 days to this process because of the mail.

This is the reason to get your bond in the beginning of your application process. This way you have it and you're not rushing at the last second to get your bond.

Renewing Your Real Estate Settlement Agent Bond

As we mentioned above, the bond term is 12 months from the bond's active date. You choose this active date when you're purchasing your bond.

As your bond expiration date approaches, your bond specialist will begin reaching out to you 30 to 45 days in advance to remind you about the expiration date and to help get your bond renewed.

Renewing your bond only requires paying a renewal premium. Your bond specialist will have pricing ready to go with the goal of lowering it, but in most cases the price remains about the same.

Once you pay the renewal premium, your bond remains active. You don't have to re-file a new surety bond with the state.

Title Insurance Settlement Agent Bonds And Getting Your Virginia Business License/Registration

Getting your Real Estate Settlement Agent license is very straightforward.

At a high level the steps are:

• Setup your appointment with an insurer in Virginia
• Purchase the required insurance policies including errors and omissions and the fidelity bond if you have employees
• Purchase your settlement agent bond
• Register with Sircon and pay the required fees , When you're ready, getting pricing for your surety bond (or bonds) takes less than one business day so, click here and start the online quote process. It takes 90 seconds to submit your request. m If you prefer to speak with a bond specialist, you can call 1-800-608-9950.