4 Things You Should Know About Bail Bonds
Posted on: 16 October 2015
If you've ever found yourself in jail due to the fact that you have to pay bail, springing for a bail bond might be something that you might want to consider. Essentially, a bail bond is a loan that a lender will allow you under certain conditions. There are a lot of things that people don't seem to know about bail bonds. Here are four things you should know about bail bonds.
You Can Verify A Bondsman Is Licensed
A lender that allows you a bond is generally referred to as a bondsman. A bondsman is the person who will essentially pay for you bail under certain conditions in which you must pay the bondsman back.
However, like all lenders, it is important to note that bondsmen should be considered trustworthy individuals and reputable lenders. Unlike most lenders, however, a bondsman not only must be licensed to sell bail bonds, but a bondsman must be able to be verified as licensed and reputable.
As bail bond laws vary from state to state, the process of verifying whether or not a bondsman is licensed or not also varies. In some states you can look up whether or not a bail bondsman is licensed online. In others you have to call the licensing board directly to determine if the bondsman is licensed.
Bail Bonds Don't Have To Be Paid In Cash
Don't have cash on you to pay for a bail bond? Most lenders or bondsmen will accept other fees or deposits in place of cash. This can also refer to the fact that most modern bondsmen will accept a credit card if you don't happen to be carrying cash money with you. The most common thing that people do if they do not have the cash to pay for bail is to pay for the bail using some form of property or an asset as a cash deposit. For example, if there is a particularly large bail placed, you can put up your mortgage as a form of a deposit on a bail bond.
Anyone Can Pay Your Bond
Most bonds are offered by institutions, companies, or individuals and, as such, this means that anyone can negotiate with these parties. This means that a loved one or friend can reach out to a bondsman on your behalf and figure out how to negotiate for your bail bond.
This is important, due to the fact that if you need a bail bond, you will be in jail and your only means of negotiating with a bondsman will be over the phone or through the avenue of said friend or loved one. In most cases, a jailed individual will make a phone call to a family member or friend who will then take the correct steps regarding contacting a bondsman.
You May Qualify For Bail Bond Payment Plans
Whatever a judge sets as bail, usually the bail bonds company will charge you 10% of the bail for their services. In most cases, you will be able to reclaim this amount after your time in court has been completed. Unfortunately, most people do not even have the amount needed. As such, bail bonds are the only option for some people. If you have good credit, you may not have to pay this amount up front, but might qualify for a bail bond payment plan. This is when the lender sets up a monthly plan in which you pay a certain percentage of the bond until it is paid off.
Dealing with bail bonds can be a confusing proposition. Luckily, this need not necessarily be the case. Hopefully, you learned a bit about the process of receiving and using bail bonds throughout this article.
For more information about bail bonds, try this site.
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