What does it mean to become bonded?

Question

Is it a credit check? What is the process? Can anyone be bonded?

Answer 1

It means, an insurance company has issued a bond for/against a particular behavior on your part.  It's done through an insurance agent, and sometimes you have to be fingerprinted.

If the bond amount is fully funded, ie, you put up the full amount of cash, yes, anyone can be bonded.  If you don't fully fund the bond, most of the time if you have any kind of criminal record, you can't be bonded.

If you can't be bonded, you'd know.

Answer 2

Basically being bonded is getting an insurance contract to insure your service. Say a carpenter is building cabinets,and the price is $5000. Before the homeowner will agree to the contract, they may ask for a bond from the carpenter for $5000 to make sure the work is completed or they can then can file a claim with the insurance company to get their money back. Anyone can get a bonded service, provided they meet the requirements of the insurance company. It may involve credit checks and other aspects of the persons business to determine if they are reliable.

From your added note about a cashier at a parking garage, the bond in this case is to cover the amount of money in the cash register. If they think $1000 will be in the "till" during your shift, and someone could just walk away with it, they would require you to post a bond , insurance, for $1000, to cover their loss should the money disappear. A few calls to "bonding agents" from the phone book will give you an idea of the cost of such a bond and what they require. You will need to know the amount of bond that the parking garage is asking for. Sounds like a hassle, but from the eyes of the employer, they want some protection.