I will address these situations in separate entries. To clarify, these are things that may come up after you have paid the money to the bail bondsman and your friend or loved one is out on bail. It is important to know, the premium you pay for the bail bond is fully earned upon the release of the person you had the bond posted for. If he or she walked out of the jail and got arrested just outside the jail, you would not be entitled to a refund. This rarely happens but it can. This would apply whether the person was out on the bond for one second or one year, the premium is fully earned and you do not get a penny of it back. Most agents these days are pretty good about explaining this to people. Even so, there is still confusion about the premium. Some people call up thinking the cost for the bond is going to be 10% of the 10%. Usually they are calling on a large bond, say $100,000 or more. Or we will explain that the cost for the bail bond is going to be $10,000 (on a $100,000 bond). We will explain it a few different ways. Then they will ask, "what do we pay you?". Other people are under the assumption they just have to give us something for collateral. They call up wanting to know if we can use their car for collateral. When that is the first question people ask, I find out how much the bail is and explain how much the cost for the bail bond will be. I explain that is our fee for putting up the full amount of the bail and it is non-refundable. Then I will explain what collateral is which I will go into in a different post. I am always happy to explain to people how bail bonds work and answer any of their bail related questions. I feel it is important for people to have a good understanding of the process and what their responsibilities are when they agree to be an Indemnitor or co-signer on a bail bond.
Please feel free to post any of your premium related questions and I will answer them as best I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment