What does it mean to be bonded?

I thought this was a straight-forward and easily answerable question until I looked it up. Here’s what I found on Wikipedia:

Commercial, license, or permit bond, usually required by law, are a guarantee from a Surety to a government and its constituents (Obligee) that a company (Principal) will adhere to the provisions of applicable codes and laws that apply to particular activities. The company could be a contractor, a health spa, title company, notary public, etc. For example, an Importer Entry Bonds is required on all commercial shipment of goods entering the commerce of the United States. An Importer Entry Bond is a customs bond posted by an importer to guarantee the payment of import duties and taxes, and to assure compliance with any pertinent law, regulation or instruction. It may be written as either a single transaction or continuous bond (self-renewing). The bond amount for a continuous bond is determined by taking multiples of $10,000 nearest 10% of duties, taxes and fees paid by an importer during the last calendar year. The minimum continuous bond amount is $50,000.

To put it simply, it means a bonded person will perform services lawfully.

It is basically an insurance policy that you purchase that guarantees you will perform the services you have contracted for, or the insurance will cover the loss up to the amount of the bond. Like any insurance policy, the premium is a few hundred dollars and the coverage is in the thousands.

To continue @YARNLADY ‘s thought – it essentially means that the bonding agency will pay to have your services performed in the event that you do not perform them.

It’s common in contractors like, for example, plumbers. Well, at least that’s a Surety Bond which might be different…

I worked a second job, other than my police job, at a big department store. my duties were heading of security for the store. this meant i had access to everything, including the stores money, safe and access codes. i was bonded. essentially, this meant if i took off with stores money, that it was covered under the stores bond. it was more than an insurance policy. it also included background checks and criminal records. being a police officer in my city meant i qualified for all the above. our department is unbelievably strict on the people they hire.

I once worked for a liquor distributor. They required that all their employees be bonded. This was for their protection, I gathered, because we had access to costly inventory. It required a lot of information and a background check.

Some housecleaning services advertise that all their workers are bonded. I infer that this protects the homeowner as well as the employer because to be bonded they must be bondable—their background must withstand close scrutiny. Some job ads say “Must be bondable.”

Is it difficult to get bonded?

I don’t know. They said there’d be an extra week or two between selecting me for the position and completing the bonding process, but that was before everything was online. I had a clean record—no legal issues of any kind, ever, no outstanding debts or credit problems, etc., etc.—so I didn’t see how anything could come up, and nothing did. I received a formal job offer pretty quickly.

I don’t know what happens if there are questions—if you have a chance to clear them up or they just scratch your name off.

i am asking rather than answering. many years ago i was bonded by the fbi in order to work for morgan guarantee trust in new york. how can i get a record of when i was bonded? i know that the information and fingerprints were sent to washington d.c. thanks.