How to Check a Freight Broker Before You Haul
Most small carriers learn to vet a broker after a load goes unpaid. The checks take a few minutes and use public records, and the federal rules say what you should expect to find. This guide goes through them in the order we would run them: who the broker is, whether its authority is active, whether the bond or trust fund is on file, what the contract says and what paperwork you should keep.
Look the broker up by MC or USDOT number in FMCSA's records. Confirm the authority is active and that a surety bond (BMC-84) or trust fund (BMC-85) is on file. Read the payment and insurance terms before you sign, and keep every load document until you are paid. The bond is $75,000 in total and is shared by every carrier with a valid claim, so it is protection of last resort.
Step 1: Know who you are dealing with
Federal regulations define a broker as a person who, for compensation, arranges or offers to arrange the transportation of property by an authorized motor carrier (49 CFR 371.2). A broker does not haul the freight. It sits between the shipper and the carrier, so the first question is whether the company on your rate confirmation is the broker, a carrier, or a dispatcher using someone else's name.
Get the legal company name, the MC number and the USDOT number from the rate confirmation or the carrier packet, and compare them with what you find in FMCSA's records. A name that does not match the number is a reason to stop and ask.
Step 2: Confirm the authority is active
FMCSA's Licensing and Insurance public search covers for-hire carriers that have been granted authority or have applications pending. Look the broker up by MC number or USDOT number. Check that the entry shows active broker authority, and note whether any application is still pending, since a pending application is not a granted authority.
If you cannot find the broker, or the authority is not active, do not haul for it until it is resolved. A broker that is operating without active authority is a larger problem than a slow payer, and the bond rules below only apply to registered brokers.
Step 3: Check that a bond or trust fund is on file
Under 49 CFR 387.307, a broker must have a surety bond or trust fund of $75,000 in effect. FMCSA will not register a broker until the full amount is in place, and the registration lasts only while the bond or trust stays in effect. The bond is filed on Form BMC-84 and the trust fund agreement on Form BMC-85, so the broker's record should show one of them.
A trust fund has to hold assets that can be turned into cash within seven calendar days: cash, irrevocable letters of credit from a federally insured depository institution, or Treasury bonds. That is the rule's way of making sure the money is there when someone files a claim.
Some practical points about what the filing means:
- It is $75,000 for the whole broker, not per carrier and not per load.
- Every carrier with a valid claim draws on the same fund, so a large unpaid balance may not be covered in full.
- The surety or trust provider must tell FMCSA within two business days when a payment drops the fund below $75,000 or when it decides the broker is financially failing. FMCSA then writes to the broker, and the broker's registration can be suspended unless the problem is fixed.
- If a bond or trust is cancelled, FMCSA publishes the cancellation and claims must be accepted for 60 calendar days afterward.
The broker financial responsibility rule took full effect on January 16, 2026. In July 2026 FMCSA also published a technical correction to 387.307 that changed two cross-references and added no new requirement. If the dates matter for a decision, read the current text of 49 CFR 387.307.
Step 4: Read the contract before you sign
Registration records tell you whether a broker exists and is bonded. They do not tell you how it behaves. The agreement does. Before you sign a carrier agreement, read:
- the payment terms, including how many days after delivery you are paid and what paperwork starts the clock;
- any deduction, chargeback or detention language;
- the insurance requirements: liability limits, cargo limits, additional insured wording and any waiver of subrogation;
- indemnity clauses that make you responsible for the broker's own mistakes.
Insurance terms in a broker agreement are the part most carriers skim. If the agreement asks for limits or endorsements you do not recognize, send it to your agent before you sign. We review broker contracts as part of looking at a carrier's file before we quote, because a contract can ask for coverage that a policy does not provide. Certificates and endorsements come from the team that services your policy.
Step 5: Know your right to the broker's records
49 CFR 371.3 requires a broker to keep a record of each transaction. The record includes the consignor's name and address, the originating motor carrier's name, address and registration number, the bill of lading or freight bill number, the broker's compensation and who paid it, and any freight charges the broker collected and the date it paid the carrier. The broker must keep these records for three years, and each party to a brokered transaction has the right to review the record of that transaction.
That right is useful when a payment dispute starts. If a broker says it has not been paid by the shipper, the record of that transaction is part of what you can ask to review.
Step 6: Keep your own paper
Whatever the broker's record shows, keep your own file for every load: the signed rate confirmation, the bill of lading, proof of delivery, lumper receipts and any messages that changed the terms. Keep them until you have been paid. If you factor your invoices, ask your factor what it checks on a broker, since it may refuse to buy invoices on loads from brokers it distrusts.
Warning signs worth a second look
None of these is proof of a problem, but each one is a reason to slow down and check:
- The name, MC number and USDOT number do not match each other.
- The authority shows as inactive or pending, or the bond or trust filing is missing.
- The rate is well above what the lane normally pays and the broker pushes you to accept before you can check.
- The contact information on the rate confirmation differs from what the FMCSA record shows.
- The agreement has insurance or indemnity terms that the broker will not explain.
Our guide to trucking broker liability in 2026 covers what a broker owes the public when a load it arranged is in a crash. The owner-operator insurance requirements guide lists what you have to carry yourself, and the MCS-90 endorsement explains the filing your insurance company makes with FMCSA.
Claims advocacy, DOT and safety know-how and a file reviewed before it goes out are what the truckers we talk to say they want in an agent. A broker agreement belongs in that review.