How to read a broker's credit score and days-to-pay

What the numbers are

• FMCSA doesn't track payment. SAFER and Motus show a broker's authority and its $75,000 bond or trust, not whether it pays on time.
• Credit score: a rating from a private credit reporting company. DAT says the score it shows comes from Ansonia, a credit reporting company. Truckstop describes broker scores on a 0 to 100 scale. Higher means the broker has paid more reliably.
• Days-to-pay: the average number of days a broker takes to pay carriers. The tools don't count it the same way. DAT says it counts from delivery, and Truckstop says it counts from the invoice. Don't compare a number from one tool with a number from another.

How to read them before you book

• Read the two together. A good score with a long days-to-pay means the broker pays, but slowly. Plan your fuel money around it.
• Watch the trend. A score that's dropping, or days-to-pay that keeps getting longer, is a warning even if today's number looks fine.
• Little or no data is common for new brokers. It isn't proof of a problem, but ask your factor before you book a big load.
• Check it's the same company. The credit report is for one legal name and MC number. Make sure the rate confirmation shows the same name and MC, or you may be looking at a different company. See double brokering and freight fraud.
• Run every new broker through the broker vetting steps too: authority, bond, authority age and contact details.

Your factoring company's credit check

• If you factor, check the broker with your factor before you book. If the factor won't buy that broker's invoices, don't haul the load on a promise.
• Ask whether the approval has a limit. Some factors approve a broker only up to a set amount at a time.
• If you don't factor, the broker may offer quick pay for a fee. Get the fee and the payment terms in writing on the rate confirmation.

See working with a factoring company and figure the cost with the factoring fee calculator.

Get paid faster on every load

• Send the invoice the day you deliver, with the signed bill of lading or proof of delivery and any lumper or detention receipts. Most delays start with missing paperwork.
• Match the invoice to the rate confirmation: load number, rate and accessorials.
• Track each invoice's due date. Our invoice generator and payment tracker help.
• You have the right to review the broker's record of your load. Brokers must keep, for 3 years, what the shipper paid, the broker's pay and the date it paid the carrier, and each party to the load may review it (49 CFR 371.3).

When a broker doesn't pay

1. Ask in writing with the invoice and proof of delivery attached, and keep every email.
2. File a claim on the bond or trust. Every broker must keep $75,000 in a surety bond (BMC-84) or trust fund (BMC-85). Under 49 CFR 387.307 as amended in 2026, if a broker doesn't respond to a valid claim within 7 business days, the surety can pay it. When the bond drops below $75,000, the surety must tell FMCSA within 2 business days.
3. Suspension: FMCSA then gives the broker 7 business days to show it was a mistake, restore the $75,000 or pay the claims. If it doesn't, FMCSA suspends its authority.
4. The 60-day window: after that, the surety starts cancelling the bond. FMCSA posts the notice in the FMCSA Register, and the surety must accept claims for 60 calendar days after the notice. Don't miss it.
5. Report it. FMCSA's complaint database (nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov or 1-888-368-7238) takes broker complaints about operating authority and financial responsibility, and FMCSA says it uses complaints to decide which companies to investigate.

Fleetorica's collections help can chase unpaid invoices for you.

Rules that are still changing

FMCSA proposed broker transparency rules in November 2024 (89 FR 91648) that would make it easier for carriers to see the records of their loads. As of October 25, 2026 the rule isn't final: the government's regulatory site lists it at the proposed rule stage, under White House review since August 27, 2026. Until it changes, 49 CFR 371.3 is the rule that applies.

Questions carriers ask