Pennsylvania Surety Bond

There are three types of surety bonding in Pennsylvania that can be required of you:

• License bonds needed for many professions such as auto dealers and mortgage brokers to operate legally.
• Contract bonds for public construction projects.
• Court bonds required by the courts for various purposes.

It’s vital you understand how surety bonds work and that you're responsible to pay claims in full (including legal costs).

Pennsylvania requires license and permit bonds in order to obtain and file licenses/permits for many different professions. You can find the full list of license and permit bonds required by using our bond requirement search tool.

Contract bonds such as bid bonds and performance bonds are needed to work on public construction jobs. However, these are usually required by cities or municipalities as opposed to the state. You can learn more about what’s needed to get bonds for public construction jobs.

Court bonds aren’t needed as often as the bonds mentioned above, but can be required by the courts if you need to appeal a court decision, become a legal guardian of a minor or operate as a fiduciary of an estate.

Surety bonds generally cost 1-15% of the required bond amount. Surety bond costs vary significantly depending on the bond amount that you need and your rate (which is the percentage of the full bond amount you must pay). You can use our bond premium calculator to get an instant estimate, or apply online to get an exact quote.

It’s possible to get a surety bond with credit issues, but it will depend on the bond type you need and how severe your credit issues are. You can get approved for most license and permit bonds regardless of your credit situation. However, it’s harder to get approved for contract bonds with bad credit. You may be able to get approved for contract bonds with minor credit problems (you’ll likely be limited to smaller projects). Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to get contract bonds with severe credit issues such as civil judgments or large collections. Remember, you’re responsible to pay bond claims, which makes finding a bond company that will defend you from claims priceless. You can also read the most frequently asked surety bond related questions.