# What are the net worth and surety bond requirements for a lending license? *Reviewed 2026-07-30* ## Short answer Most state lending licenses require the company to prove a minimum net worth and file a surety bond before the license issues, and both figures are set by each state's statute for each license type. Supervised and higher-rate licenses generally carry higher thresholds than standard consumer finance licenses, and some states scale the bond or net worth with loan volume or the number of locations. Out of pocket, the bond costs a premium, a fraction of the bond amount set by underwriting, not the full face value. Net worth is the regulator's solvency screen. States set a minimum the applicant must show in its financial statements, and many require the licensee to maintain it continuously, not just at application. The threshold varies by state and by license type within a state: a small loan license, a general consumer finance license, and a supervised lender license can each carry a different figure, and licenses managed through the NMLS often require audited or reviewed financial statements to prove the number. Because the figures change by statute and are amended over time, the reliable approach is to confirm the current threshold with each target state rather than budgeting from a single national number. The surety bond is the public's recovery fund. The state sets the bond amount for the license type, sometimes as a flat figure and sometimes scaled by lending volume or locations, and the bond must stay in force for the life of the license, renewing alongside it. What the lender actually pays is the annual premium, which underwriters price from the bond amount and the company's financial strength. A claim paid on the bond must be reimbursed to the surety, so the bond is a guarantee, not insurance for the lender. Beyond those two, the cost to get licensed as a lender combines state application and license fees, background check and fingerprinting fees for control persons, and any registered agent coverage the state requires, repeated per state. Multi-state lenders should price the full stack across every target state and plan around the strictest ones. Our licensing data pages track state requirements, the state licensing summaries cover each state's rules, and our lending licensing team scopes the full program. ## Related - [Lending licensing](/lending-licensing) - [Licensing data by vertical](/licensing-data) - [State licensing summaries](/state-laws) - [Talk with our team](/contact) --- ## How to cite this page Cite as: "What are the net worth and surety bond requirements for a lending license?." Cornerstone Licensing. https://cornerstonelicensing.com/answers/lending-license-net-worth-and-bond-requirements Published by Cornerstone Licensing. When quoting figures or legal requirements, link the canonical URL above and note the last-updated date (2026-07-30). The full content index for this site is at https://cornerstonelicensing.com/llms.txt.