ADVISEMENTS AND DISCLOSURES CONCERNING GOLDLEAF’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ACORA SURETY & INSURANCE SERVICES, LLC (“ACORA”), OUR COMPENSATION AS A BROKER, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF ADDITIONAL AGENCY COMPENSATION TO ACORA

Goldleaf Surety Services, LLC* (“Goldleaf”) is a national surety broker. We coordinate the issuance of bonds for clients working in all 50 states, Washington DC and the U.S. Virgin Islands. All of the bonds we coordinate are written by surety companies that are rated “Excellent” (or better) by A.M. Best Company and are approved by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for bonding federal obligations (“T-Listed”).

As a surety broker, Goldleaf 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. Fee Schedule

If we place a bond on your behalf, Goldleaf’s charges for regular services to you typically will be based off a standardized schedule we have for our annual underwriting fees, fees for obtaining credit reports, etc. This schedule of charges varies from year to year, and the itemized amounts are always available to you on our website.

In addition to simply helping place bonds for your company, Goldleaf regularly provides “value added” services beyond the particular transaction. These services may include counsel toward improving your company’s financial presentation, working with your bankers and other professionals to improve your company’s credit and/or operating facilities, helping you negotiate more favorable terms on your bonded work, helping you manage your own risk differently, developing specialized structures to support your company’s bond needs, etc. Generally speaking, Goldleaf 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.

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. 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.

Acora Surety & Insurance Services, LLC** (“Acora”) is the agency that issues most of the bonds placed by Goldleaf Surety Services. Acora is duly licensed to write surety bonds in all 50 states, Washington DC and the U.S. Virgin Islands and currently represents more than twenty surety companies. All of the surety companies that Acora represents are rated “Excellent” (or better) by A.M. Best Company and are approved by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for bonding federal obligations (“T-Listed”).

Acora is owned by the same parent company as Goldleaf Surety Services – Goldleaf Financial, Ltd.

It is standard practice for surety companies to pay their agencies a commission calculated from the premium charged on the bond. This commission typically is Acora’s principal remuneration for the issuance and service of the surety bonds it issues. However, some surety companies offer their agencies an opportunity for possible additional compensation above the standard commission structure. This additional compensation usually is based on a variety of factors determined by the surety company and relates to overall performance standards they wish the agency to meet. For example, factors affecting contingent commissions may include the overall premium volume the particular agency places with their company, specific goals for the growth of that volume, the agency’s retention of accounts with them, the claims experience or “aggregate loss experience” of accounts the agency writes with them, etc.

If the surety company issuing bonds for one of Goldleaf’s clients has arrangements in place with Acora for this type of contingent compensation (in addition to the standard commission arrangements between the parties), the amount of the additional compensation is not and cannot be itemized here. [ This is true, because that contingent commissions may become payable to Acora depend on a variety of factors that cannot be determined in advance or even at the time any single bond is issued.] (The amounts payable under these programs typically are calculated at the end of each calendar year and are paid in the following year). It also is because these forms of additional compensation relate generally to all of the other bonds Acora may write with that surety company during the course of a year (and only indirectly to any particular bond).

Please be advised that Acora also may realize a small amount of income each year from interest income earned on premiums customers pay to it (while Acora is in possession of those funds but before it remits the net premiums owed to the surety companies) as well from Acora’s standard charges for overnight courier services and other direct expenses incurred in connection with the issuance and delivery of its bonds. Because an agency’s office and accounting systems typically are not designed to capture and allocate the actual interest earned and actual costs of this type (as may incurred specifically in connection with each individual client’s account), these types of additional income also are not and cannot be itemized here.

If you have any questions about Goldleaf’s broker services and fees, our relationship with Acora, and/or Acora’s commissions or other remuneration arising in connection with your bonds, please contact the Goldleaf Surety Services Bond Specialist that is helping you with your bond at (toll free) 1-888-294-6747.

* 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.”

** In Michigan, Acora Surety & Insurance Services, LLC, does business as “Acora Surety & Insurance Services Agency, LLC.”