2011 Fee Schedule

Goldleaf Surety Services, LLC* (“Goldleaf”) is a national surety broker and does not have a direct contractual relationship with any surety company or insurance company. Although we communicate daily with a large number of surety companies and regularly negotiate with these surety companies to secure their approval of bonds for our clients, we do not receive any direct or contingent compensation from any surety company. Our company’s only revenue is from amounts that we may negotiate with our clients as compensation for our services in setting up their accounts and working to place bonds for their businesses.

Generally speaking, Goldleaf does not charge any fees in connection with our initial and ongoing general consultations with clients or the other “value added” services we regularly provide to clients (outside of placing their bonds for them). These services may include counsel toward improving the client’s financial presentation, working with the client’s bankers and other professionals to improve the client’s credit and/or operating facilities, helping the client negotiate more favorable terms on their bonded work, helping the client develop improved risk management procedures, developing specialized structures to support the client’s bond needs, etc. (Goldleaf simply provides these services on an ongoing basis at no charge. We are not structured to keep track of and bill for such services on an hourly rate or a pre-determined annual fee. We also believe those types of fees and monthly billing arrangements would inhibit the type of open business relationship we desire with our clients.) However, there are occasions when our services require an extraordinary amount of time or render extraordinary value, and in these cases Goldleaf may negotiate a flat or percentage Broker Services Fee that is charged and collected at the time the client needs a bond (see below).

In the event we are successful in placing one or more surety bonds for an account, we may charge one or more of the following fees at the time the bond is to be released:

  • COMMERCIAL & MISCELLANEOUS BONDS

    • One-Time Bond Set-up Fee ($195) if placed with a standard Surety market.
    • If due to low credit, weak financials or the type of bond we need to go to a specialty market, the underwriting fee will vary due to the additional information required.

  • CONTRACT BONDS

    • Annual Underwriting Fee ($295). Our annual underwriting fee is charged with the first final bond issued in the calendar year, and it covers our regular office expenses associated with (a) Placing all bid bonds, and (b) Providing standard underwriting assistance per year, for the entire year.
    • Credit Reports ($50 per report). We charge a “per report” amount to cover our regular office expenses and actual out-of-pocket expenses associated with obtaining Equifax personal credit reports and Dun & Bradstreet business credit reports.
    • Extraordinary Broker Services (negotiated). Occasionally, Goldleaf will expend an extraordinary amount of time and out-of-pocket expense in securing approval of a particular bond or obtaining approval of a surety program for a particular client. These situations usually derive from the nature of the bond needed or the class of work being performed. They also may arise in connection with a client’s financial/credit position. In these cases, Goldleaf does seek additional compensation for the value of its services, its in-house underwriting expertise and its unique market capacity. This compensation sometimes is charged out as a flat fee but more typically is based on some percentage of the bond amount that our clients and we agree reflects the value of the services rendered. Since each case is different and the value of our services usually is negotiated on a “relative” basis (relative to the bond amount or the size of the contract opportunity), these fees are not subject to a “fixed fee” schedule as our regular broker fees are (above). All this being said, we do covenant with our clients that:
      • Goldleaf will not charge any amount of this type of fee without prior, written disclosure of the amount and the basis for our charges.
      • We always will obtain our client’s consent/agreement to the amount and basis for these fees before we ever actually invoice for them.

    * Goldleaf Surety Services, LLC, does business in California through “Goldleaf Surety & Insurance Services, Inc.,” and does business in Michigan as “Goldleaf Surety Services Agency, LLC.”