Methodology
How we compute the score
Every broker on CheckMyBroker gets a single 0–100 score and a plain-English verdict. This page explains exactly how that number is built — nothing is a black box.
The score is CheckMyBroker’s assessment of a broker on public factors, as of the date shown on that broker’s page — an opinion built from official records, not a guarantee, a credit decision, or a statement that any broker is or isn’t trustworthy. Always confirm anything critical against the official FMCSA record before you book.
How the score is built
Each broker starts at a baseline and moves up or down on the official FMCSA factors below. Every point that applies is itemized on the broker’s page under “Score breakdown”.
The scale has a real ceiling: the positive factors below add up to exactly 100, so a broker with active authority, a current financial-security filing and at least four years of authority on the federal record reaches the top of the scale. Below the score, each broker page lists why it is not at 100 — every deduction with its reason, and every factor whose points were not earned. Points reflect filings in the federal record, not conduct.
| Factor | Effect | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Baseline | starts at 50 | Every broker begins from the same midpoint. |
| Active broker authority | +20 | FMCSA broker authority status is ACTIVE. |
| Financial-security filing on record | +10 | A current BMC-84 surety-bond or BMC-85 trust filing is on record. |
| Authority age | +20 / +10 / +5 / −10 | 48+ months / 24–48 months / 12–24 months / under 6 months old. |
| Pending financial-security cancellation (within 60 days) | −25 | A cancellation effective date is on record and is approaching; the filing may still be replaced. |
| No current financial-security filing | −30 | No current BMC-84/BMC-85 filing appears in our data. |
| Revocation history on record | −10 | A prior revocation exists; authority may have been reinstated since. |
| Phone shared with other authorities | −10 / −20 | 3+ / 10+ other authorities share the listed phone (may be legitimate, e.g. filing services). |
| Also holds active carrier authority | −5 | The FMCSA record lists active authority in both roles; confirm the contracting entity and role. |
| Authority inactive | hard red — caps the score at 25 | The FMCSA record does not show active federal broker authority; the score cannot exceed 25. |
| Authority revoked | hard red — caps the score at 15 | FMCSA records this federal broker authority as revoked; the score cannot exceed 15. |
How the verdict is decided
The coloured label is not just the score band. Some facts in the federal record block the green label even when the score stays high — because a green label would say something the record contradicts. The score itself is not changed by these rules; only the label is.
| Rule | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| No active federal broker authority | red | Inactive, revoked, out-of-service, or not allowed to operate in the FMCSA record. |
| Score under 40 | red | The public-record factors below put the broker in the lowest band. |
| Score 40–69 | yellow | Mixed public record — read the breakdown before you rely on it. |
| Our copy of the record is older than the freshness threshold | stale | Authority older than 8 days: we say "verify on FMCSA" instead of presenting a green label on data we cannot vouch for. |
| No current BMC-84/BMC-85 financial-security filing | never green | A green label asserts the broker cleared the baseline federal financial-security requirement. Without a current filing on record we downgrade to caution. |
| Operating authority suspension notice served in the last 1 year | never green | A green label says no critical filing issue appears in the federal record. A suspension notice contradicts that, so it blocks the green label even when the score stays high. The notice may have been resolved since — the broker page shows the date it was served. |
The green label reads “No critical filing issues in the scored factors” — deliberately scoped to what the score covers, because the public record contains facts the score does not price in.
Signals shown on a broker page
Below the score, every broker page carries a panel titled “Double-broker risk signals”. It is a display of facts, not a second score: it does not add, remove or change a single point, and it cannot move the coloured label. Each row shows one fact from the public FMCSA record, the date we last read that source, and a sentence saying what the fact does not prove. The six rows are authority age, financial-security filing, pending cancellation, shared contact, dual authority, and enforcement history.
Two rules govern that panel, and they are the same rules the score obeys:
- A fact we have not re-read recently is not presented as a fact. Past the freshness thresholds in the table above, the row reads “Not verified in the last N days — check the FMCSA record” instead of an answer. A signal missing because our data is old must never look like a signal missing because of reality.
- An absence is a statement about our copy of the record, not about the broker. Where nothing is on file we say so in those words, because a filing made recently may not have reached us yet.
The panel also carries a “New authority (<90 days)” badge, repeated in the quick facts. Ninety days is a threshold commonly used when vetting a new operator; it is not a scoring rule. The score has its own, separate authority-age factor listed in the table above, and the badge does not change it. The date behind the badge is the authority grant date where the federal record has one, and otherwise the earliest financial-security filing date — the broker page says which of the two it is showing.
For the whole picture behind those signals, see what a carrier can check before booking. The $75,000 financial-security requirement itself is explained in the broker bond guide.
What we don’t use
The score is built only from official FMCSA public records. We do not use, and it is never influenced by: race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, the personal characteristics of a broker’s owners or staff, political opinions, unofficial or anonymous tips, whether a broker pays us anything, or the carrier payment reports described below.
No pay-to-remove
No broker or carrier can pay to raise, lower, remove, or expedite any score, label, or report. Public-record fields change through documented source refreshes and corrections. User reports may change through neutral moderation, appeal, documented correction, or a valid legal requirement; methodology changes are versioned. Nothing changes in exchange for payment or an unsupported threat.
Where the data comes from
Data sourced from FMCSA public records via the U.S. DOT Socrata Open Data API. U.S. Government works are public domain under 17 U.S.C. §105. We use the official API, not screen-scraping, and show the source and refresh date on each broker page.
Official records vs carrier reports
Two very different kinds of information appear on a broker’s page, and we keep them apart on purpose:
Official FMCSA records — authority status, BMC-84 surety-bond or BMC-85 trust filings and their cancellations, authority age, revocation history, shared-contact signals — are facts from government public sources, each shown with its source and the date we last refreshed it. These are what the score is built from.
Carrier payment reports are first-hand accounts from carriers about how a broker paid them. They are unverified individual experiences, labeled as such, shown in their own section, and not part of the score. Read them alongside the official record, not instead of it.
If you believe a fact on a broker page is wrong, use the dispute form on that page; brokers can add a public right of reply. Corrections to public-record facts are made fast.
Changelog
- Methodology v1.1 — authority-age factor extended with a top step: 48 months or more now adds +20 (24–48 months stays +10, 12–24 months stays +5, under 6 months stays −10). The change is additive only: no broker’s score went down, and the maximum a broker can reach became exactly 100, the number the pages had always displayed. Broker pages now also show, under the score, which deductions and which unearned factors account for the distance to 100.
- Methodology v1.0 — initial public methodology: score built from FMCSA authority status, financial-security filings and cancellations, authority age, revocation history and shared-contact signals; carrier payment reports kept separate and excluded from the score.
Questions about the methodology: support@checkmybroker.ai.