What are the differences between surety bonds, insurance and irrevocable letters of credit?
The biggest difference between a surety bond and insurance is insurance is a two party risk transfer mechanism and a surety bond is a three party agreement. Insurance creates a pool funded by premiums from a large group of people or companies that are exposed to similar risk. Each individual or company contributes premium and any member of the group that suffers a loss has access to the funds in the pool. Insurance companies expect to experience losses. Surety companies on the other hand do not expect to experience any loss. The premium paid to a surety company is to cover the cost of the prequalification or underwriting process. In the event there is a loss, surety companies expect to be reimbursed for their loss. An irrevocable letter of credit is a guarantee issued by a bank to another party covering non performance or nonpayment of an obligation by a contractor. The bank performs no prequalification service for the beneficiary and is primarily concerned the contractor can pay back
