One thing that many do not understand is while the current surety bond market is tough, it is considered a more traditional underwriting approach. Contractors are being angered by decreases in their bond lines, or in worst cases are now being deemed "not bondable". Business owners seeking commercial bonding such as license bonds to run their business are not only finding it harder to obtain an approval, but are also seeing rates much higher than years past.

Why such a drastic difference? A couple years back the industry saw the softest bond market ever, which caused a backlash to what is now today's hard market. The surety bond market is cyclical, a member of the Surety Bond Forums commented on the cycle stating:

Vicious cycle:

We need more profit from you - write more business

We need to write more business, loosen up underwriting

We've loosened up underwriting - oops- losses

Losses? Sorry, you aren't contributing to the bottom line - watch it

Tighten up underwriting - less premium - but losses still come in from previous underwriting

Losses increase - loss ratio increases due to smaller premium and more losses

Sorry - we are closing down surety operation and sticking to profitable lines

While at another company - lots of business out there due to company a getting out of business - go pick it up we need more business so we can get more profit and on and on and on

What is a 6 letter word for "doesn't learn from the past"

S _ R _ T Y

The good news for anyone looking to obtain a bond is that the market will become more liberal in time. The bad news for agents is this will not be the last time that accounts scramble in mass looking for a new agent that can offer them what you previously were. Fortunately for agents, in general they will find very similar offers from agent to agent, as our industry is smaller than most realize.