A surety company is the entity that is backing the bond.  The bond form is not provided by the Surety Company but by the principal. This does not mean that the surety does not have a copy of the bond but it may be outdated. Always check with the oblige for the bond form.  After the surety company has approved your application the surety will require a GIA (General Indemnity Agreement) along with payment and other underwriting conditions. Once the surety company receives the original documentation they will then issue the bond. The bond consists of two parts the first part is the bond form.  The second part of an issued bond is the Power of Attorney. When you receive the original bond it should have the Power of attorney signature, Surety company seal as well as a power of attorney. A common mistake occurs when the principal receives the bond is where to send it. Please don’t send the original bond back to the surety company. The Surety bond should be sent to the obligee unless specified differently. If you send the bond back to the surety they may loss it and your license will be delayed it is the principals responsibility to deliver the bond to the appropriate place.
In order to become a surety bonding company you must file with the Department of Insurance “DOI”. Every state has different criteria for the company to meet such as financial strength, and you must file your company with each State.  The State does not assign a rating normally an independent third party does.  After reviewing the risk by an entity such as AM Best or Fitch a rating is assigned. In order for a surety to write bonds for the Federal Government the surety must become Treasury listed also known as T-Listed. So if you need a federal license like an ICC bond check to see if they are T-Listed.
Without surety bond companies when a company performs work for the federal government our tax dollars would be in jeopardy.

I hope this has helped you, you can find out different types of surety bonds and other surety news on our Surety bond blog. What to know what is the cost of a surety bond is ? How much a surety bond costs and how a surety bond agent underwrites a bond.