BMC-84 vs BMC-85: which surety is right for your brokerage

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Every property broker the FMCSA licenses has to file proof of $75,000 in financial responsibility. There are exactly two ways to do that: a BMC-84 surety bond from a licensed insurance company, or a BMC-85 trust fund agreement held by a bank or eligible trust provider.

Most brokers default to BMC-84 because it’s how the surety broker quoted them and BMC-85 sounds like a thing for big shops. That’s the wrong way to choose. The right way is to look at three things about your business and pick the form that fits.

What each form actually is

BMC-84 is a surety bond. You pay a surety company an annual premium (typically 1–8% of the $75,000 face value, so $750–$6,000/year). If a carrier or shipper makes a valid claim against you, the surety pays out up to $75,000 and then comes after you to recover what they paid. You’re on the hook for the full amount; the surety is just the front-line check writer.

BMC-85 is a trust fund. You deposit cash, securities, or qualified collateral up to $75,000 with a bank or qualified trustee. There’s no annual premium — the cost is the opportunity cost of having $75,000 sitting in a trust account earning whatever the trust pays.

Three questions to choose between them

1. Do you have $75,000 in liquid capital you’re willing to park? If yes, BMC-85 is meaningfully cheaper over five years. If no — if you’d be financing the deposit or stretching your working capital — BMC-84 is the answer.

2. What’s your credit profile? BMC-84 premiums scale aggressively with credit. A broker with a 780 FICO might pay 1% ($750/year). A broker with a 620 FICO might pay 8% ($6,000/year). At those premiums BMC-85 starts looking attractive even if you have to borrow to fund the trust.

3. How predictable is your claim risk? Surety claims against brokers usually come from carriers not getting paid for loads the broker invoiced. If your AR is clean and your shipper mix is stable, you’d never see a surety claim. If you regularly take on shippers with delayed pay or high-touch dispute potential, you might prefer BMC-84 — the surety eats the first $75K of exposure and the recovery action is a slower process than a trust draw.

Industry data

As of the most recent FMCSA refresh, roughly 97% of bonded brokers carry BMC-84 and the remaining 3% carry BMC-85. The dominant providers on the BMC-84 side are big-name surety carriers you’d recognize. On the BMC-85 side, almost all filings flow through one or two specialty trust providers — they exist precisely because there’s a steady minority of brokers for whom the trust math beats the bond math.

What the form codes tell a recipient

When someone on the other end of a load pulls your authority record, your BMC type is on it. To a shipper or a sophisticated carrier, BMC-85 reads as “this broker has $75K in cash locked up” which is a marginally stronger signal of financial seriousness than “this broker pays an insurance premium.” It’s not a huge factor — but at the margin, in a competitive lane, marginal signals matter.

When to switch

If your annual surety premium ever crosses ~$3,000, run the trust math. At a 6% premium you’re paying $3,750/year and a trust deposit pays for itself in well under five years even at modest return rates. If your premium is under $1,500/year, stay where you are — the bond is cheaper than the opportunity cost.

This article is general information, not financial advice. Talk to your CPA and your surety broker before changing your filings.