Producer and Agency Bond
In 1999, Big I Illinois was successful in passing legislation that allowed the association to provide our members with the required producer bond and agency bond.
The State of Illinois, Department of Insurance, requires a bond if the producer does not have a direct contract with the insurer. The Illinois Department of Insurance is the obligee for the bond as provided for in the Illinois Insurance Statutes.
The amount required by statute is $2,500 or 5% of the premiums brokered in the previous calendar year, whichever is greater, but not to exceed $50,000 total aggregate liability. Since our program covers both the producer and the agency for the total of $50,000, there is no need to compute what 5% of the previous year’s premiums are.
This is not fidelity coverage. A fidelity bond would provide coverage for employee theft of the agency’s and/or insured’s money. Sometimes limited coverage may also be found in the agency’s business owners policy or errors and omissions policy.
The cost for the producer’s bond is extremely low - only $25 per licensee and NO CHARGE for the agency if all licensees in the agency are covered on January 1 each year. Since the agency only needs to report their licensees just once a year, there will be no additional or return premiums made during the year. New licensees are automatically covered as long as the agency reported and paid for all licensees in the agency on January 1.
The Illinois Department of insurance no longer requires you to submit a copy of your bond with your license renewal. Therefore, a copy of the bond will not be sent to you (copy can be obtained as explained below). Big I Illinois retains the master bond at its office.
Contact Tami Hubbell with questions.
To sign up for the bond program, a Big I Illinois member agency simply needs to complete the producer bond form listing each of your producer's names and social security numbers, and include payment for $25 per producer.
To view a copy of the bond, you must be logged in, and must be a member. The bond link will appear below when logged in.