How to Fill Out CNA Surety Form 10: Application for Bond

To fill out CNA Surety Form 10, download the fillable PDF from the company’s Contract and Equipment Management portal, identify which of the seven bond categories applies to you, enter your personal and bond details, complete a financial statement if your category requires one, sign the General Indemnity Agreement, and submit the finished form by email or fax to CNA Surety’s underwriting team.¹ Form 10 is CNA Surety’s all-purpose bond application, covering public official, fidelity, probate, referee and receiver, court, license, and lost securities bonds.²

Identify Your Bond Category First

The reverse side of Form 10 lists seven numbered categories, and each sets its own rules for what paperwork you need to attach. Knowing your category before you start writing determines whether a signature is enough or whether you need to pull two years of financial records first.²

Public Official (1): No financial statement unless the bond exceeds $100,000, in which case you sign the application. Bonds over $150,000 also require internal control data.
Fidelity (2): No financial statement required, but you must complete the internal control data section.
Probate (3): No financial statement. Applicant signs the application.
Referee, Receiver, etc. (4): No financial statement. Applicant signs.
Court (5): Applicant signs. The form does not say a financial statement is unnecessary, so expect to provide one for larger amounts.
License (6): Applicant signs the application.
Lost Securities (7): Applicant signs the application.

What to Gather Before You Start

Having the following ready keeps the application moving in one sitting rather than several.

Personal identification: your full legal name exactly as it appears on the license or bond, Social Security number, date of birth, and residential address. The form authorizes CNA Surety to pull a credit report on you and on any business owners listed.²
Bond details: the type of bond, the dollar amount, the effective date, and the complete name and address of the obligee (the entity requiring the bond).²
Financial statement (if applicable): the form offers a business version and a personal version. Either asks for cash on hand with bank names, receivables, real estate, stocks and bonds, notes payable, accounts payable, and taxes due, plus gross sales and net income for the last two years.²
Marital status: the form has checkboxes for married or single. If you are married, expect the surety to require your spouse to sign the indemnity agreement so shared marital assets fall within its reach.

How Credit Affects Your Premium

Your credit score drives what you pay. Surety bond premiums are calculated as a percentage of the total bond amount, and that percentage varies widely by financial profile. Applicants with strong credit generally pay at the lower end; applicants with poor credit or thin financial histories pay substantially more. For a $50,000 bond, a well-qualified applicant might pay a few hundred dollars in annual premium while someone with credit issues could pay several thousand. Paperwork alone does not negotiate this number down; the underwriter’s read of your creditworthiness sets it.

Filling Out the Form Section by Section

Download the fillable PDF from cem.cnasurety.com, or request a copy from a licensed insurance agent who handles commercial bonds.¹ Licensed agents can also submit the application through bONdLINE, CNA Surety’s online portal, which uses single-screen data entry for faster processing.³

Start with the top section: legal name, Social Security number, date of birth, home address, and marital status. Print or type. Handwritten scrawl is the easiest way to create a processing delay. Next, the bond information: the type of bond (one of the seven categories), the dollar amount, the effective date, and the obligee’s full name and address. Get the obligee details exactly right. If a court clerk or licensing board gave you paperwork specifying the bond amount and obligee, copy from that document word for word.

If your bond category requires a financial statement, move to that section and check whether you are completing the business or personal version. List every asset category the form asks for and every liability. The form asks for figures from the last two years, so pull your records before you start. Underwriters use this information to calculate your net worth and gauge whether you could repay the surety if a claim were filed. Leaving fields blank when you have reportable amounts looks evasive and can trigger additional scrutiny or delay.

The General Indemnity Agreement

The indemnity section is the most consequential part of Form 10. By signing it, you enter a legally binding contract that obligates you to reimburse CNA Surety for any losses, costs, or legal fees the company incurs because of your bond.⁴ This is not a formality. The agreement gives the surety significant rights over your finances if a claim ever pays out:

Full reimbursement: you agree to cover every claim payment, legal fee, and investigation expense the surety incurs, including in-house attorney costs.
Collateral on demand: the surety can demand that you deposit cash sufficient to cover a pending or anticipated claim. The form’s indemnity language authorizes this “for any reason whatsoever.”²
Accounting as proof: the surety’s itemized statement of what it spent is treated as initial proof of what you owe, shifting the burden to you to prove otherwise.

If you are married, expect the surety to require your spouse’s signature here. A missing spousal signature is one of the most common reasons applications get kicked back, so have your spouse available when you sign.

Notarization

Whether your signature needs notarization depends on the bond type. It is commonly required for public official bonds, court bonds, and probate bonds. License and permit bonds in regulated industries may also need notarized signatures. When in doubt, check with the obligee. The court or agency requiring the bond will tell you its specific requirements. A mobile notary can typically handle this for a modest fee.

Where to Submit the Completed Application

CNA Surety accepts finished Form 10 applications through two main channels. You can email the PDF to uwservices@cnasurety.com or fax it to 605-335-0357.¹ If you are working with a licensed agent who has bONdLINE access, the agent can enter your information directly into the online portal and submit electronically.³ Agents can register for portal access by calling 800-655-3551.⁵

Some courts require original “wet” signatures on bond documents rather than scanned copies. If your obligee is a court with that requirement, you may need to mail the physical form. Confirm with the court clerk before submitting; resubmitting later adds days or weeks to your timeline.

After You Submit

Once the underwriting team reviews your application and credit report, CNA Surety issues a premium quote, the annual fee for maintaining the bond. This premium is non-refundable for the first year. After payment, the surety generates the formal bond instrument, which carries a unique bond number and serves as official proof of coverage.³ Agents using bONdLINE can make electronic payments and receive the bond output directly through the portal.

You are then responsible for delivering the original bond instrument to the obligee. That might mean filing it with a court clerk, submitting it to a state licensing board, or handing it to whatever government agency required the bond. Do it promptly. The bond’s legal protections do not take effect until the obligee accepts it. Keep a copy for your own records.

One thing Form 10 does not cover: getting out of the bond. Court and probate bonds in particular cannot be canceled at will, and refunds of the first year’s premium are generally not available across the surety industry. Complete the application knowing the commitment runs at least a full term.

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CNA Surety. CEM Home
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CNA Surety. Form 10 Application for Bond—Any Kind
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CNA Surety. bONdLINE Quick Reference Guide
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U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. General Agreement of Indemnity
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CNA Surety. CEM bONdLINE