Crime Bonds
A crime bond, also called a fidelity bond or crime policy, is written around money and property taken through dishonesty, from inside the business or outside it. Here is how the coverage is usually assembled and what a client contract tends to ask for.
What crime bonds are for
Most business insurance is written around accidents: a fall, a fire, a collision. Crime coverage deals with a different kind of loss, the deliberate one. An employee who skims from the register, a bookkeeper who writes checks to a made-up vendor, or an outsider who forges a signature or tricks the bank into releasing funds can each leave the business short in ways an accident policy was never meant to address.
The names overlap. Fidelity bond is the older term for protection against employee dishonesty. Commercial crime insurance is the broader policy that adds forgery, computer fraud and theft by outsiders. In cleaning and home-service trades, a janitorial bond usually means coverage for theft from a client. The California Department of Insurance describes crime coverage simply as protection for business assets, including merchandise, money and securities.
The parts of a crime policy
Employee theft is the foundation. It addresses money, securities and other property taken directly by your own employees, and the limit you choose applies to a single occurrence however many employees took part. Ask how the policy defines an employee, since owners, temporary staff, volunteers and leased workers are treated differently from one form to the next.
Optional insuring agreements build on that base. Forgery or alteration addresses checks and similar instruments signed or changed without authority. Computer fraud and funds-transfer fraud address money moved out by someone using a computer or by false instructions sent to your bank without your knowledge. Money and securities coverage separates cash inside the premises from cash in transit, such as a deposit on its way to the bank.
Client-property coverage, which some insurers call employee theft on client premises, addresses a customer’s money or property taken by your employee while working at the customer’s site. It can be written for one contract or across every client, and some businesses buy it by itself because a contract asks for it. Social-engineering fraud, where a staff member is talked into sending money, usually sits in its own agreement with a separate limit.
Businesses that ask about crime bonds
Any business where staff handle cash, checks, inventory or a company card has an employee-theft question. Restaurants and retail stores count cash at the end of every shift. A small office often has one trusted person who pays the bills and reconciles the account, which is exactly the arrangement that lets a loss go unnoticed for months.
Service businesses that send people into homes and buildings face the client side. Cleaning businesses, handymen, pet sitters and property maintenance crews work around other people’s jewelry, electronics and paperwork, and commercial clients regularly write a client-property bond into the service agreement before the first visit. Contractors with keys or alarm codes to occupied buildings hear the same request.
What to have ready for a crime bond quote
Start with the people: how many employees you have, which of them handle money, sign checks, release payments or hold keys to client sites, and how you check references before hiring. Include part-time and seasonal staff, plus any subcontractors who work under your name at a customer’s location.
Then describe the controls. Underwriters ask whether one person both writes and reconciles checks, whether bank statements go to someone outside the bookkeeping role, whether wire requests are confirmed by a phone call to a known number, and how cash is counted and deposited. Add your annual revenue, any client contract that names a bond amount, and any past theft or fraud losses. The quote checklist gathers the general business details.
How crime coverage sits beside your other policies
General liability addresses injury and accidental damage to other people’s property; it is not written for theft by your own staff, which is why a client worried about theft wants to see a crime bond rather than a liability certificate. A Business Owner’s Policy protects your own property against perils such as fire, while employee dishonesty is commonly excluded there and left to crime coverage.
The closest neighbor is cyber insurance. Both can touch a fraudulent wire transfer, but they approach it from different directions: crime coverage centers on stolen money and property, while cyber coverage centers on breached systems and data. Professional liability, for its part, is built around honest mistakes in your services rather than dishonest acts.
Reading a client’s bond requirement
When a client contract asks for a bond, look for three things: the amount it names, whether it wants third-party or client-property coverage specifically, and whether the client must appear as a loss payee. An employee theft policy that protects only your own money leaves a requirement written around the client’s property unanswered.
Ask, too, what proof the client needs before it can recover, how the bond treats theft by a subcontractor, and how long after a contract ends a loss can still be reported. Sending a copy of the requirement with your quote request keeps the conversation tied to the wording the client will check. Our certificate of insurance guide explains how proof of coverage usually reaches a client.
What does a crime bond cost?
Small service firms usually start with a client-property bond, the least expensive piece of this coverage. Bond providers’ published rate tables, as of 2026, list a $5,000 bond for a business with five or fewer employees at about $100 a year. A full commercial crime policy starts near $150 a year in national small-business marketplace data, with a median of about $75 a month, or $900 a year. Both sets of figures describe very small businesses, mostly under five employees, buying modest limits. An established company with a larger crew, a bigger bond amount or staff who handle client funds commonly pays well above them, and the published policy range passes $6,000. These are published industry rates, not a Mithril1 quote.
A client-property bond is priced on the bond amount and the number of employees it names, while a crime policy is rated on its limit, headcount and the insuring agreements you add. The published table shows how the bond amount scales: $5,000 costs about $100, $25,000 about $171 and $100,000 about $328. Twenty times the bond amount, from $5,000 to $100,000, costs a little over three times the premium, since $328 ÷ $100 is about 3.3. Those rates assume five or fewer employees, and the same table notes that the price rises with each additional employee.
Expect a higher figure with more employees inside client homes or offices, staff who handle cash, checks or wire transfers, a larger limit or a smaller deductible, past theft losses, and added cover for forgery, computer fraud or social-engineering fraud. Weak business credit can raise it too. Expect a lower figure with background checks at hiring, split duties so one person never both writes and reconciles payments, call-back verification for any wire change, a clean loss history and a higher deductible. Note any bond amount a client contract names, work through the quote checklist, and send it via the contact page.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Is a crime bond the same as a fidelity bond?
The terms are often used for the same thing. Fidelity bond traditionally means protection against employee dishonesty, while a crime bond or crime policy usually adds forgery, computer fraud, funds-transfer fraud and theft of money by outsiders.
What is a janitorial bond, and how does it relate to a crime bond?
A janitorial bond is the cleaning-industry name for client-property coverage: protection for a customer whose property is taken by your employee. It is one part a crime bond can include, often requested in commercial cleaning contracts.
Does a crime bond address theft by the business owner?
Crime policies are generally written around dishonesty by employees and outsiders, and acts by owners or partners are a common exclusion. Read how the policy defines an employee and who sits outside that definition.
Why would a client ask for a crime bond instead of a general liability certificate?
General liability is built for accidental injury and property damage, not theft by staff. A client worried about employees handling keys, cash or valuables wants evidence of employee theft or client-property coverage, which comes from a crime bond.
What controls do crime bond applications ask about?
Expect questions on who writes and reconciles checks, who reviews bank statements, how wire requests are confirmed, how cash is counted and deposited, and how you check references when hiring.
How should I think about a crime bond limit?
Start with the most money or property one person could reach before anyone noticed: cash on hand, the balance a bookkeeper can move and the value of client property your staff can access. A contract that names an amount sets the starting point.