Freight brokerage setup: LFS builds your brokerage
LFS builds freight brokerages for clients. Your brokerage gets its own broker authority and its own $75,000 financial security, and it can join the LFS network under LFS management and compliance oversight. Our founder, Michael Thomas, brings more than 25 years in freight, including brokering freight, to every build.
Learn the trade first, then build the business
Brokering freight is a skill: finding shippers, pricing lanes, covering loads and handling problems when they happen. That training belongs to Freight University, our education arm, and it is where we send people who are still learning the work.
Building a brokerage is the next step: you know the work and you are ready to own the business. LFS sets it up with you, from the company and the authority to the contracts and the back office. We are a carrier-first company, so we build brokerages that carriers can trust: ones that check who they hire and pay on time.
Setting up a property brokerage
LFS handles each of these steps with you. The authority, the bond or trust and the filings are in your brokerage's name, not ours.
Business entity, EIN and bank account
Form the company, get an EIN from the IRS, and keep a separate account for carrier payments.
Apply for property broker authority
Brokers apply online through Motus, FMCSA's USDOT Registration System, which requires identity verification for new registrants. The fee is $300 for each type of authority.
File $75,000 in financial security
A property broker must have a $75,000 surety bond (BMC-84) or trust fund (BMC-85) on file (FMCSA; 49 CFR 387.307). The 2026 rule below explains how it is enforced.
Designate process agents (BOC-3)
Brokers must list process agents in each state where they have an office and where they write contracts.
Register for UCR
Brokers register for UCR each year through their base state (UCR Plan).
Contracts, records and vetting
Put your agreements, your record keeping and your carrier vetting routine in place before your first load.
The 2026 broker financial security rule
FMCSA's broker and freight forwarder financial responsibility rule took effect on January 16, 2026 (FMCSA overview). The $75,000 amount did not change. What changed is what happens when the money is used:
- When a payment from your bond or trust fund drops it below $75,000, your surety or trust provider must notify FMCSA within 2 business days (49 CFR 387.307).
- FMCSA then serves notice on you. Your authority is suspended within 7 business days of that notice unless the security is restored to $75,000.
- A BMC-85 trust fund may hold only cash, irrevocable letters of credit from federally insured depository institutions, and U.S. Treasury bonds (FMCSA).
- If a broker fails financially, the provider must notify FMCSA and start cancellation, and FMCSA posts notice in the FMCSA Register so carriers and shippers can file claims (FMCSA industry presentation).
For carriers, this is good news: a broker who does not pay can lose authority quickly. For a new broker, it means you need cash on hand to replenish the bond, not only to cover payroll.
Your brokerage in the LFS network
When the build is done, your brokerage can join the LFS network. It keeps operating under its own authority and its own financial security. LFS manages it and provides compliance oversight: filings kept current, the $75,000 security watched, carrier vetting done the same way every time, and the transaction records a broker must keep for three years kept in order.
Network brokerages can also take on freight agents trained through Freight University's PLSP certification. See freight agent placement.
- Your authority and your bond or trust, in your name
- LFS management and compliance oversight
- Access to PLSP-trained freight agents
Your brokerage built with education behind it
Brokerages we build have a team of Freight University students, interns and academics behind them, helping set up compliance, carrier vetting and the back office the right way.
Carrier vetting, built from the carrier's side
Freight fraud hurts honest carriers and honest brokers alike. A repeatable routine is your best defense.
Check the authority and insurance
Confirm active authority and insurance on file in FMCSA's records before every first load, and again over time.
Verify identity, not just paperwork
Call the phone number on the FMCSA record, not the one in the email. Impersonation starts with a document that looks right.
Read the safety history
Look at inspections, out-of-service rates and how long the company has operated under that name.
Know the fraud patterns
Double brokering, chameleon carriers and cargo diversion. See freight fraud warning signs and FreightBrokerComplaint.com.
Contracts and records a new brokerage needs
- Broker-carrier agreement
- Shipper-broker agreement
- A rate confirmation for every load
- Carrier packet: W-9, authority, certificate of insurance
- Transaction records kept for three years, which each party to the load may review (49 CFR 371.3)
- A written claims procedure
- Clear payment terms for carriers, stated up front
Questions and answers
Is the broker bond still $75,000?
Yes. A property broker needs $75,000 in financial security, either a BMC-84 surety bond or a BMC-85 trust fund (FMCSA). Since January 16, 2026, authority is suspended if it falls below $75,000 and is not restored within 7 business days of FMCSA's notice (49 CFR 387.307).
Is LFS a freight brokerage?
No. LFS is a service company. It builds freight brokerages and trucking companies for clients and manages the ones in its network. Our founder's 25+ years in freight include brokering freight, and that experience goes into every brokerage we build.
Who owns the brokerage?
You do. The company, the broker authority and the $75,000 financial security are in your brokerage's name.
Do you teach freight brokering?
Training is done by Freight University. This consulting helps people who are ready to set up and run their own brokerage.
Can I book freight as an agent instead of opening a brokerage?
Yes. Agents trained through Freight University can be placed with a freight brokerage in the LFS network, under that brokerage's authority. See freight agent placement.
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Starting a freight brokerage?
Tell us where you are: still training, ready to apply for authority, or already operating. We will reply about building your brokerage.
Prefer the phone? Call 901-205-9679.
Sources
- FMCSA — Broker and Freight Forwarder Financial Responsibility Rule: overview and compliance
- 49 CFR 387.307 — Property broker surety bond or trust fund
- FMCSA — Broker and Freight Forwarder Rule industry presentation (January 2026)
- FMCSA — Insurance filing requirements
- FMCSA — Registration (Motus; identity verification)
- FMCSA — What is the cost of obtaining operating authority?
- FMCSA — Process agents
- 49 CFR 371.3 — Records to be kept by brokers
- IRS — Get an Employer Identification Number
- UCR Plan — Fee brackets