Illinois notary bond

What Illinois requires

Illinois has two bond tiers. A traditional notary posts $5,000. A notary who performs remote or electronic notarizations by audio-video communication must also carry a $25,000 bond conditioned on those acts, and a single $30,000 bond satisfies both requirements; Illinois's is the largest remote notary bond in the country.

Illinois law makes the bond a condition of the commission itself: the commissioning authority will not issue, or will not activate, the commission until the bond is on file. The bond is a faithful performance bond conditioned on the notary's honest and lawful discharge of every duty of the office. Any person who suffers a monetary loss because the notary failed in that duty, whether through negligence, an improper acknowledgment, a defective identification of a signer, or outright fraud, may make a claim against it up to the $5,000.

Filing the bond in Illinois

The bond is submitted with the application to the Secretary of State. Illinois requires an applicant to be a resident of the state (or an out-of-state resident employed in Illinois) and, for new commissions, a training course and examination.

We issue the bond on the form the Illinois Secretary of State, Index Department prescribes, executed by the surety and with a power of attorney attached where the jurisdiction requires it. You sign as principal where indicated and file. If your jurisdiction requires the notary's signature on the bond to be acknowledged, the instructions that accompany the bond say so.

Cost of a Illinois notary bond

Our total price is $75 for the entire 4 years term. That figure is the surety premium plus a forty-dollar processing fee; there is no application fee, no shipping charge and nothing added at checkout. Divided over the term it is a few dollars a month for the bond that makes your commission possible.

The premium is not a percentage of the bond amount in the way contract and license bonds are priced. Notary bonds are rated as a class because the claim frequency is low and the penalties are modest, which is why a $5,000 bond costs only a fraction of its face value.

Remote online, electronic and eNotary commissions

Illinois electronic and remote notaries must carry a $25,000 bond conditioned on remote and electronic acts in addition to the $5,000 bond, or a single $30,000 bond satisfying both (5 ILCS 312/2-105(b)). Remote notary bonds are individually underwritten; use the online notary bond request.

The bond is not insurance for you

The single most misunderstood feature of a notary bond is who it protects. The bond protects the people who rely on your notarial acts and the State that commissioned you. When the surety pays a claim, it is entitled to full reimbursement from you, the principal, because the surety's promise is a guarantee of your performance, not a transfer of your risk. Notary Errors & Omissions insurance is the product that transfers the risk: it pays claims for honest errors in your official notarial acts with nothing to repay, and it can pay the defense costs of a claim that turns out to be groundless. Notary E&O is available on the same application, at a discounted rate for bond purchasers.

Illinois notary bond questions