Dealer bonds file with the Motor Vehicle Division under separate Title 32 chapters for motor vehicles, snowmobiles, manufactured or mobile homes, and boats, but they share the same customer-protection purpose—title failure, fraud, and lien-warranty breaches—and the same license-period renewal pattern. Mortgage, money-lender, and money-transmission licensing runs through the Division of Banking, typically via NMLS. Debt adjusting is framed differently: chapter 37-34 generally forbids the business and lists exceptions, including a fifty-thousand-dollar bond filed with the Attorney General for commercial operators who do not fit another exception.
South Dakota · Surety Bond Resource Center
South Dakota surety bonds
South Dakota’s published statewide license bonds cluster at the Department of Revenue Motor Vehicle Division for vehicle and specialty dealers, the Division of Banking for mortgage, money-lender, and money-transmission licenses, and the Attorney General for the debt-adjusting bond exception. Dealer amounts run five thousand to twenty-five thousand dollars by license class under Title 32, with a new bond or continuation certificate each license period and written claim or cancellation notice to the department. Mortgage lenders, brokerages, brokers, and originators size bonds under SDCL 54-14-24 and ARSD 20:07:19:07 from twenty-five thousand to fifty thousand dollars by prior-year South Dakota loan volume. Money transmitters follow SDCL 51A-17-100’s average-daily-liability formula between one hundred thousand and five hundred thousand dollars, with a deposit alternative. Money lenders post a bond capped at ten thousand dollars for the first license and two thousand five hundred dollars for each additional location. Commercial debt adjusting is generally a misdemeanor unless an exception applies—one path is a fifty-thousand-dollar Attorney General bond under SDCL 37-34-3(10). Notary bonding ended July 1, 2025, and there is no statewide general-contractor license bond.
South Dakota at a glance
- Vehicle & specialty dealers
- $5,000–$25,000
- Mortgage lender / brokerage / broker
- $25,000–$50,000
- Money transmitter
- $100,000–$500,000
- Money lender
- ≤ $10,000 + $2,500 / location
- Debt adjusting (exception path)
- $50,000
By dealer class under Title 32; license-period bond or continuation.
ARSD 20:07:19:07 volume tiers; ≥ $25,000 statutory floor.
Greater of $100k or 100% of average daily SD liability; deposit alternative.
SDCL 54-4-42; each location separately licensed.
SDCL 37-34-3(10) Attorney General bond—not a collection-agency license.
How it works in this state
How South Dakota bonding is organized
What this hub does not treat as statewide license bonds
South Dakota has no statewide general-contractor license bond; the statewide construction touchpoint is the contractors’ excise tax license, not a fixed license bond. Notary public bonding was removed by HB 1133 effective July 1, 2025. Third-party collection agencies are not licensed under a statewide collection-agency bond here. Resident surplus-lines brokers carry a separate two-thousand-dollar Division of Insurance bond that is outside this commercial-core set. Municipal contractor bonds, electrical-commission undertakings, public-works performance and payment bonds, and court bonds remain excluded.
South Dakota bond directory
Find your bond requirement
These guides cover license and permit bonds with verified educational content. Your agency notice or application checklist is always the final authority.
BondAgencyCommon amountHow you file
- Motor Vehicle Dealer BondLicense & permitSouth Dakota Department of Revenue — Motor Vehicle Division$5,000–$25,000File the original bond with the Motor Vehicle Division application packetNew bond or continuation each license period; restore the amount after a judgment claim
- Mortgage Lender / Broker BondLicense & permitSouth Dakota Division of Banking — Mortgage licenses$25,000–$50,000File electronically through NMLS on the director-prescribed formStays in force while licensed; 30-day cancel; replace after a claim or recovery
- Money Transmitter BondLicense & permitSouth Dakota Division of Banking — Money transmitters$100,000–$500,000File electronically through NMLS; director-approved deposit may replace the bondStays in force while licensed; resize with average daily South Dakota liability
- Money Lender BondLicense & permitSouth Dakota Division of Banking — Money lenders≤ $10,000 + $2,500 per additional licenseFile electronically through NMLS with the Division of BankingStays in force while licensed; December 31 license year via NMLS
- Debt Adjuster BondLicense & permitSouth Dakota Office of the Attorney General — Consumer Protection$50,000File the Attorney General bond form for Attorney General approvalKeep the approved bond in force while you operate under the exception
Who sets the requirement?
South Dakota licensing agencies
Each agency below sets its own bond requirement. Open the related guide for amounts and filing steps.
South Dakota Department of Revenue — Motor Vehicle Division
Licenses vehicle and specialty dealers and receives Title 32 dealer bonds.
Open related guide →Division of Banking — Mortgage licenses
Licenses mortgage lenders, brokerages, brokers, and originators and receives SDCL 54-14-24 bonds.
Open related guide →Division of Banking — Money transmitters
Licenses money transmitters and receives SDCL 51A-17-100 security.
Open related guide →Division of Banking — Money lenders
Licenses money lenders under chapter 54-4 and receives SDCL 54-4-42 bonds.
Open related guide →Office of the Attorney General — Debt adjusting
Approves the SDCL 37-34-3(10) fifty-thousand-dollar debt-adjusting exception bond.
Open related guide →Before you apply
Confirm these details from the agency notice
Bring these five items when you request a bond. For the full checklist, see how to read a bond requirement.
- 1
Agency and credential
Confirm whether you need a Department of Revenue dealer bond, a Division of Banking mortgage, money-lender, or money-transmitter security, or an Attorney General debt-adjusting exception bond.
- 2
Dealer class or loan volume
Dealer amounts follow license class. Mortgage amounts follow prior-year South Dakota originated, brokered, or serviced volume under ARSD 20:07:19:07.
- 3
Surety vs deposit alternatives
Money transmitters may, with director approval, deposit security instead of a bond. Dealer, mortgage, money-lender, and debt-adjusting filings use a surety bond (or the Attorney General–approved debt-adjusting form).
- 4
Exact legal name
Match the name on the bond to the license or Attorney General filing. Multi-license dealers using one boat-chapter bond must cover every license’s required amount.
Learn more about surety bonds
Universal surety concepts explained once—linked here instead of repeated on every state or bond page.
Frequently asked questions
Does South Dakota require a statewide contractor license bond?
No. There is no statewide general-contractor license bond. Contractors deal with the Department of Revenue contractors’ excise tax license statewide, and any city or county contractor bonds separately.
Do South Dakota notaries still need a surety bond?
Not for commissions issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025. House Bill 1133 removed the former five-thousand-dollar notary bond; the Secretary of State’s how-to-become-a-notary page confirms the bond is no longer filed with the office.
Is a debt-adjuster bond the same as a collection-agency bond?
No. South Dakota does not publish a statewide third-party collection-agency license bond here. The fifty-thousand-dollar Attorney General instrument under SDCL 37-34-3(10) is an exception path for debt adjusting under chapter 37-34.
Start your South Dakota bond application
South Dakota will be preselected in the application. Choose the bond type on the next step—we verify the current agency form before anything is issued.
Last verified 2026-08-12. Official sources are retained with this guide and checked before publication.
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