The Illinois Public Adjuster license
Public Adjuster
The only adjuster license Illinois issues, and it is the policyholder's: 215 ILCS 5/1505 limits it to assisting insureds in first party claims. It is also the only license in the state whose applicant has to keep an office the public can reach.
Course
None
This license has no pre-licensing course route.
Ways in
3
2 of them skip the state exam.
Exam
$92
Required on some routes and not others.
Every way to qualify
More than one route leads to this license, and which one you take changes what you study and whether you sit the exam. There is no pre-licensing course among them: this license is qualified for by sitting the examination or a license held in another state.
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Route 1 Pass the public adjuster examination
State exam required
The examination
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The written public adjuster examination, testing the duties and responsibilities of a public adjuster and the insurance laws and regulations of Illinois. It is the one Illinois paper the Department asks no pre-licensing course in front of, and at 165 minutes it is the longest examination the state gives.
and financial responsibility
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A surety bond of at least $50,000 in favor of the State, specifically authorizing recovery by the Director on behalf of anyone damaged by the licensee's erroneous acts, failure to act, fraud or unfair practices, or an irrevocable letter of credit of at least $50,000 from a qualified financial institution to an account to the Director. Either is cancellable only on 30 days' written notice filed with the Director, and 1560(d) terminates the authority to act the moment it lapses or becomes impaired.
and an office the public can reach
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An office maintained in the home state of residence "with public access by reasonable appointment or regular business hours", which a designated office within the home state satisfies. Eight public adjuster licenses on this site condition themselves on being findable and no other kind of license does: Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Wisconsin all take the clause from the NAIC public adjuster model act, and Nebraska and New Hampshire ask for an office in the state itself rather than in the home state of residence.
215 ILCS 5/1525(a) is the whole qualification and it asks for eligibility to designate Illinois as a home state, rehabilitation where there is anything to rehabilitate, trustworthiness and competence, the financial responsibility of Section 1560 and the office. 1525(b) adds eighteen years of age and the examination. The last two limbs of 1525(b) are drafted for a business entity and applied to an individual, asking the individual to designate a licensed individual public adjuster responsible for "the business entity's compliance" and to designate only licensed individual public adjusters to exercise "the business entity's license"; the section is headed Resident license and its subsection (b) opens "an individual shall". 1530(b) sets the waiting periods after a failure at seven days for the first and thirty for the second and every one after it, and the Department repeats both. Before the license issues the applicant is fingerprinted by an Illinois approved live scan vendor and the Department waits for the Illinois State Police and the FBI.
Read at ilga.gov on 2026-08-20
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Route 2 Hold the license in another state on that state's examination
Exempt from the state exam
The other state's license
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365 days Previously licensed as a public adjuster in another state on the strength of a public adjuster examination, and either currently licensed there or applying within twelve months of that license being cancelled, with that state certifying good standing at cancellation or the NAIC producer database showing it.
and financial responsibility
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The $50,000 bond or irrevocable letter of credit, on every route.
215 ILCS 5/1535(a), and its clock is twelve months where the producer article's equivalent at 500-45 runs ninety days. 1535(b) is the moving-here limb, ninety days from establishing legal residence with no examination. 1535(c) is the one this site has met in few other states: somebody previously licensed as a public adjuster in Illinois itself is excused the paper if they reapply within twelve months of cancellation and were in good standing at it. The exemption is from the examination only; the bond and the office are asked on every route.
Read at ilga.gov on 2026-08-20
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Route 3 Hold a resident license in a home state that returns the favor
Exempt from the state exam
The home state license
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a resident public adjuster license in the applicant's home state, current and in good standing, where that state awards nonresident public adjuster licenses to Illinois residents on the same basis
and financial responsibility
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The $50,000 bond or irrevocable letter of credit, on every route.
215 ILCS 5/1540. The nonresident license is conditional on keeping the home state one: 1540(c) terminates it and requires it to be surrendered immediately if the home state license ends for any reason, unless the adjuster has become a resident licensee somewhere else, with notice to Illinois within thirty days and reciprocity between the new home state and Illinois. It costs $500 where a resident pays $250, which is the widest resident-to-nonresident gap on the Illinois schedule after the producer's own.
Read at ilga.gov on 2026-08-20
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Courses
You do not have to buy any of this. The Illinois Department of Insurance asks for no pre-licensing course, so nothing below is required of you. They are exam prep, priced here so you can see what they cost.
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ExamFX
Exam practice. No course is required, so this is what to study.
$129.95 to $179.95
See 2 options Hide ▾-
Illinois Adjuster Basics - Self-Study Package
60 Days Course Access · Interactive Learning Portal · Online Exam Simulations · Readiness Exam · Instructor & Technical Support read 2026-08-22
$129.95
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Illinois Adjuster Basics - Video Study Package
60 Days Course Access · Interactive Learning Portal · Online Exam Simulations · Readiness Exam · Instructor & Technical Support · On-Demand Video Lectures · Online Flashcards read 2026-08-22
$179.95
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Mometrix
Exam practice. No course is required, so this is what to study.
$59.99/month
See 1 option Hide ▾-
Insurance Claims Adjuster Course
$59.99/month
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