On December 4, 2013, the Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill to require debt settlement service providers to post a $50,000 surety bond. HB 173 has since undergone review and revision in the Senate’s Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee.

The engrossed bill, as passed by the House, is a section pertinent to the surety industry. If the Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee passes the bill in its current state, debt settlement service providers in Ohio will be required to “obtain and maintain in effect at all times a corporate surety bond issued by a bonding company or insurance company authorized to do business in this state.”

The bond would allow debtors who feel their settlement service providers had wronged them to take civil action. According to Section 4710.23 of the engrossed bill, in the case that a debtor collected winnings from a civil suit, the “aggregate liability of the corporate surety for any and all breaches of the conditions of the bond shall not exceed the penal sum of the bond.”

The Ohio Senate still has a series of editing and voting rounds to go through pertaining to this bill, so check back for updates about HB 173 right here on the Surety Bond Insider.

If you need a surety bond in Ohio or any other state, contact SuretyBonds.com online 24/7 or by phone at 1 (800) 308-4358 Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. CST.