Who requires it
West Virginia Secretary of State
License & permit · West Virginia
West Virginia Credit Services Organization Bond
West Virginia credit services organizations that charge or receive money before finishing every service promised to a buyer must obtain a fifteen-thousand-dollar surety bond or establish a fifteen-thousand-dollar surety account. Section 46A-6C-4 requires a copy of the bond—or notice of the depository, trustee, and account number—to be filed with the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State’s CSO registration materials mirror that rule: any early deposit, including advances for third-party fees, triggers the continuous fifteen-thousand-dollar security, while a firm that accepts no payment before completing services may register without the bond or surety account.
Common bond amount
$15,000
Bond or surety account required when taking prepayment (W. Va. Code § 46A-6C-4).
How you file
Surety bond or surety account filed with the Secretary of State
Renewal
Maintain continuously while accepting prepayment
Who requires it
Credit services organizations required by W. Va. Code §46A-6C-3 to obtain a surety bond or establish a surety account because they take payment before completing all agreed services, unless an exemption to CSO registration applies.
How much is required
Section 46A-6C-4(e) fixes the bond or surety account at fifteen thousand dollars. There is no volume schedule.
How to get and file it
File Form CSO-1 with the Secretary of State. If you will take any prepayment, purchase a $15,000 surety bond (Form CSO-2/CSO-4 path) or establish a surety trust account and file the required notices. If you will accept no payment before completing services, register on the without-surety path and keep that business practice. Keep the bond or surety account in continuous effect while the organization takes prepayment. Update registration information when ownership or address data changes. Aggregate surety or trustee liability cannot exceed fifteen thousand dollars.
Cost note
Fifteen thousand dollars is the required bond or account amount, not the premium you pay. See bond amount vs premium. Bond amount vs premium →
Requirement checklist
- Required amount
- $15,000 bond or surety account
- Trigger
- Any payment before completion of all agreed services
- Filing
- Bond copy or depository/trustee/account notice with the Secretary of State
Official sources
Frequently asked questions
Can a West Virginia CSO operate without a bond?
Yes, if the organization accepts no money from customers before completing all agreed services and registers accordingly with the Secretary of State. Taking any early payment—including advances for third-party fees—requires the $15,000 bond or surety account.
Is a surety account allowed instead of a bond?
Yes. Section 46A-6C-4 allows either a $15,000 surety bond or a $15,000 surety account, with depository, trustee, and account-number notice filed with the Secretary of State.
Related West Virginia bond guides
Collection Agency Bond
$5,000 per office
No person may operate a collection agency in West Virginia without a business franchise registration certificate—treated as the collection-agency license—and a West Virginia office. Section 47-16-4 also requires each applicant to file a $5,000 surety bond for every principal office and every branch office. The bond must be issued by a company licensed to write surety in West Virginia, run with the registration tax period, and be approved by the Tax Commissioner before the license may issue.
Mortgage Broker / Lender Bond
$50,000–$250,000
West Virginia residential mortgage lenders and brokers license under article 17 of chapter 31 and must file electronic surety bonds through NMLS in favor of the State for consumers and for commissioner claims on unpaid civil administrative penalties or examination invoices. Section 31-17-4 sizes lender faces at one hundred thousand, one hundred fifty thousand, or two hundred fifty thousand dollars by West Virginia annual loan originations, except that lender licensees who service West Virginia mortgage loans file a two-hundred-thousand-dollar bond. Broker faces step from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dollars by West Virginia originations, and a broker must post one hundred fifty thousand dollars before participating in a table-funded residential mortgage loan.
Money Transmitter Bond
$100,000 / $300,000–$1,000,000
Licensees under West Virginia’s checks, money-order, money-transmission, currency-transportation, and currency-exchange article must post a surety bond acceptable to the Commissioner of Financial Institutions. Section 32A-2-10 sets one hundred thousand dollars for licensees that issue or sell checks or money orders or that engage in currency exchange, and three hundred thousand dollars for licensees that receive money for transmission by wire, facsimile, or electronic transfer or that engage in currency transportation. A licensee that engages in multiple covered activities posts the higher amount. At renewal the bond increases by one percent of annual West Virginia volume above ten million dollars, rounded to the nearest thousand, but never above one million dollars. Cash deposits and pledges of cash-equivalent instruments are not accepted instead of the surety bond.
Surety basics (not repeated here)
Universal surety concepts explained once—linked here instead of repeated on every state or bond page.
Continue with a West Virginia application
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Last verified 2026-08-11. This guide is based on verified educational content and official sources.
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