1952

United Fire & Casualty Fidelity & Surety Department started with a staff of two, one underwriter and one clerk typist. During the first year the department produced $10,282 in written premium.

1959

Dick Ehlinger took over the department in 1959 we wrote $151,288 in written premium. Dick believed in being consistent in his underwriting philosophy by following the three Cs; character, capital and capacity. Something our department still believes in and follows consistently.

1977

The department breaks the $1,000,000 mark in written premium.

1988

Mike Hansen takes over the department and continues the underwriting philosophy that Dick started in 1959. We continue to develop strong relationships with our agents and clients. We wrote $8,304,368 in written premium.

1994

First agency hits $1 million in bond premium; there have been many more in the years since.

1997

Mike Hansen retires, our written premium more than doubled to $18,602,044 in less than 10 years.

2000

The first year of the new millennium ended with the department breaking the $20,000,000 written premium barrier. In 10 years we nearly doubled our written premium.

Bonds automated system is implemented giving underwriters and staff members access to information in real time as well as automating many manual processes.

2001

Randy Ramlo becomes the vice president amid a tremulous time in our nation’s history. Our written premium was $25,145,703.

2002

Fifty years after we started we hop on the information superhighway with our new website called Ufgbonds. We offer bond forms, underwriting guide lines and contract rate information.

2003

Ufgbonds website is growing and expanding our service to agents by offering forms upload and online bid requests.

First agency hits $2 million in bond premium.

2004

Randy Ramlo is promoted to executive level administration of our company. Geoff Lakis is hired as the new vice president.

2005

Direct bill is implemented as a billing option for commercial surety bonds.

2006

Dennis Richmann becomes the 6th vice president in over 50 years, continuing our strong tradition of underwriting and building relationships with our agents.

Second agency hits $2 million in bond premium.

2008

The home office was evacuated on June 11, 2008 due to anticipated record flooding of the Cedar River. The river eventually crested on June 13th at 31.1 feet, 20 feet above flood stage. The home office took on over 8 feet of water in the first level of our buildings. Along with the rest of the company, the bond department was relocated to Norway, Iowa for 11 weeks. During this time, our building was cleaned and repaired while we strived to continue to serve our agents’ needs. We shared computers and worked in two shifts during our time in Norway. On September 2nd, we were allowed to return back to our regular workspace in the home office. We were happy to resume our normal day to day activities and to be back home.

2009

Ufgbonds website is released as a redesigned, online, bond kit information tool for all agency staff. Surety Xpress offers electronic submission of bid requests directly to your underwriter. Electronically file your bid bonds and final bonds through Bonds Upload to reduce processing time and improve efficiency for all parties. Visit our forms library to access contract and commercial surety forms to print in your office.

2010

Today our department is as automated and versatile as our major competitors. The key business elements that set us apart from the other surety companies:

United Fire & Casualty Company has a current treasury listing of $54,204,000.

We also write bonds in Texas under United Fire & Indemnity Company which has a current treasury listing of $1,423,000.