Freight broker credit check
Hauling a load on 30-day terms is lending money to a stranger. FMCSA holds no payment data at all — but the free record still answers most of the credit question, if you know which fields are doing the work.
What the free record tells you about getting paid
| What to read | What it says about payment |
|---|---|
| Age of the authority | The single strongest free signal. A brokerage that has held authority for years has been paying carriers for years. |
| Bond continuity | Same surety for years = premiums paid, no claims bad enough to lose cover. A bond that changed hands recently is worth a question. |
| Revocation history | Authority pulled and reinstated usually means insurance lapsed, which usually means cash was tight. |
| Revocation pending | Cash is tight now. 14,906 dockets are in this state. |
| No bond on file | 111 active brokers have none. There is no backstop to claim against. |
| Undeliverable mail flag | FMCSA can't reach their registered address. Noisy — some large legitimate brokers carry it — but it belongs in the picture. |
Look up an MC number
Live FMCSA licensing, insurance and census data. Switch to DOT if that's the number you were given.
What it can't tell you
Whether they pay in 20 days or 70. Whether they are being sued. Whether they lost their biggest shipper last month. FMCSA is a licensing and safety regulator, not a credit bureau, and no free dataset covers this. For that you need either a paid broker-credit service, a factoring company's approval list, or other carriers.
The free checks worth doing alongside
- Ask a factoring company. Even if you don't factor, factors publish or will tell you which brokers they approve. They decline the ones that don't pay, because it is their money.
- Ask other carriers. Carrier groups and forums trade days-to-pay numbers constantly. One complaint is noise; a pattern is data.
- Search the docket for litigation. Court records are public and a broker being sued repeatedly for freight charges shows up in them.
- Check the FMCSA record first anyway. It is free, it takes four seconds, and it rules out the companies not worth running a credit check on at all.
Price the risk instead of avoiding it
Refusing every young brokerage is not a strategy — 62,053 authorities were granted in 2025 and most of them are ordinary businesses. When the record is thin, change the terms rather than the answer: quick pay at a discount, part up front on the first few loads, or factor the invoice so somebody whose job is credit takes the call.
And before any of that, confirm the company is who is actually calling you — see double brokering red flags.
Questions
Can I check a freight broker's credit for free?
Not their credit score — that is a commercial product. But the free FMCSA record answers most of what you actually want to know: how long they have held authority, whether the bond is on file and how recently it changed hands, and whether authority has been revoked before. Combine that with asking other carriers about days-to-pay.
What does days-to-pay mean?
The average number of days between your invoice and their payment, as reported by carriers who have hauled for them. Under 30 is good; 45 is normal for a big shipper-facing brokerage; over 60, or wide variance, is a warning.
Does FMCSA publish broker payment data?
No. FMCSA holds authority, insurance and safety data and nothing about whether invoices get paid. Anyone telling you they have official FMCSA payment data is selling you something else.
Is a new broker automatically a bad credit risk?
Not automatically, but you are lending them money on no history. Grants of new authority ran to 62,053 in 2025; most are ordinary businesses. Price the risk instead of guessing: quick pay, a partial up front, or factor the invoice with a factor who has already approved them — factors do this credit check for a living and will decline the ones they don't like.
What is the strongest free signal?
Age of authority combined with an unbroken bond. A broker with eight years of authority and the same surety throughout has paid its premiums and not had claims that made a surety walk. That is a credit signal, and it is free to read.