Insurance License Hub

The South Carolina Insurance Broker license

Insurance Broker

Places South Carolina business in the surplus lines market. It cannot be a first license: a resident has to hold a property and casualty producer license for the same lines before applying.

Course

None

This license has no pre-licensing course route.

Ways in

2

1 of them skips the state exam.

Exam

Not confirmed

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.

  1. Route 1 Hold the producer license for the same lines and pass the broker examination

    State exam required

    The underlying producer license

    • a South Carolina property and casualty insurance producer license for the same lines of insurance the broker license is sought for

    and financial responsibility

    • A $10,000 bond in a form approved by the Attorney General in favor of South Carolina, executed by a corporate surety licensed here and countersigned by a licensed resident agent

    S.C. Code 38-45-20 stacks four things on each other: the producer license for the same lines, the South Carolina broker licensing examination, a biennial fee of $200 that is fully earned when received, and the $10,000 bond. Texas's surplus lines license and Iowa's excess and surplus lines license have the same stacked shape and neither carries the bond.

    Read at scstatehouse.gov on 2026-08-17

  2. Route 2 Hold the equivalent license in the home state

    Exempt from the state exam

    • a surplus lines or broker license in good standing in the applicant's home state

    S.C. Code 38-45-30 sets the non-resident route and 38-45-40 authorizes the reciprocal agreements behind it.

    Read at scstatehouse.gov on 2026-08-17

The South Carolina Department of Insurance requires no pre-licensing course for this license, so there is nothing here to price. Anyone selling you one is selling exam practice.