You’ve ended up in a bit of trouble and now you need to see a bail bondsman about getting a bail bond so you can get out of jail. Even though you only have to pay ten percent of the bail to the bondsman, it’s still a lot more money than you have on hand. One way around this is to establish a payment plan so you can pay the fee in instalments.

Everything is set and you’re out of jail. Everything looks good so why should you pay your bail bondsman?

There are six main reasons why you need to continue making your bond payment and make it on time.

Your Bail Will Be Revoked

Depending on where you live, a bail bondsman can revoke your bail for non-payment. If your bail is revoked then the bondsman can arrest you and turn you over to the authorities. You will then be put back in jail and the bondsman still gets to keep the ten percent bail fee.

You May Not Be Able To Get  On Another Bond Payment Plan

If your bail has been revoked because of non-payment and then you are put back in jail, it may be difficult to find another bondsman who is willing to put you on a payment plan. This means that you could spend a lot of time in jail waiting for y our court date. Even if you can find a bondsman willing to take a chance, you will have to pay the bail fee payments twice; once to the original bail bondsman and again to the second bail bondsman.

The Courts May Not Give You Bail

Even if you could find another bondsman who would be willing to give you another chance with a payment plan, the courts may not allow you to be released on bond again so you will have to stay in jail.

Your Bail Bondsman Can Sue You

Even if your criminal charges have been settled you still need to continue making your bail bond payments. If you don’t, the bail bondsman can start civil court proceeding against you to pay not only the bond fee payment but also any legal costs that they may incur as a result of starting a civil action against you.

Your Bondsman Can Sell Your Collateral

If you left collateral for the loan, the bail bondsman may end up selling it to pay the bail bond fee.

Your Bondsman Can Send A Collection Agency After You

If you stop paying your bail bond payment, the bail bondsman may begin charging you interest or late fees on the money owed. The bail bondsman may also give the bill to a collection agency which may go after the people who put up collateral for your bail bond. This means either your friends or family may start receiving calls from collection agencies looking for the bond payment.

It is important to continue making your bond payments in order to keep yourself out of jail as well as making sure that your family and friends are protected from collection agencies.

Even if your criminal charges have been taken care of so you no longer need to fear going to jail, a bail bondsman can take you to court or sell your collateral.

Make life easy and pay your bail bondsman, just in case you need him again.

Commercial bail bonds are a convenient option for those seeking to get out of jail or prison prior to their court date. The concept – charging a fee to pay someone else’s bail – is virtually unique to the United States, where it began in the early 19th century. In countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom, paying someone else’s bail is considered a type of obstruction of justice.

However, commercial bail bonds are not an option everywhere. Oregon, Wisconsin, Illinois and Kentucky do not allow them. Those states either substitute a 10 percent cash deposit to the court, impose conditions of release or simply release defendants “on recognizance,” trusting them to return for the next court date or trial. Many prosecutors say these alternatives produce mixed results.

Oregon
Oregon prohibited commercial bail bonds in 1974 following a scandal involving payments to jail officials and police for access to defendants. An April 12, 1991 editorial in the Portland Oregonian newspaper described the industry when it operated in the state as “a spoils system.”
The ban was upheld by the Oregon Supreme Court in 1978.

Retired Multnomah County Judge William Snouffer, a former Lewis & Clark College law professor and volunteer lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union, spearheaded the effort.

Snouffer’s 1974 Oregon Law Review article, “An Article of Faith Abolishes Bail in Oregon” recounted the elimination of commercial bail bonds in Oregon and their replacement with other forms of pre-trial release. Testifying against legislation seeking to bring back bail bonds to the state, he called bail bondsmen “a cancer on the body of criminal justice.”

Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, commercial bail bonds were banned in 1979. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Fred Kessler, who had served 10 years in the Wisconsin Assembly, helped draft legislation that year to ban commercial bail bonds. He called them, “an informal corrupting force in the criminal justice system.”

Illinois

Illinois banned the practice in 1963 after Municipal Chief Justice Raymond P. Drymalski was indicted in 1959 for setting bail in exchange for bribes (along with eight bail bondsmen, two former assistant state attorneys and Drymalski’s former administrative assistant). None were convicted.

Kentucky

Kentucky outlawed commercial bail bonds in 1976. The law was upheld by a three-judge federal district court panel later that year.

Julian Carroll, tried regulating Kentucky commercial bail bond industry while serving the state House of Representatives during the 1960s but was unsuccessful. Then the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper spent four years (1972-1975) publishing investigative stories and editorials on the industry.

In response, the legislature passed laws restricting commercial bail bonds. Then Carroll began serving as acting governor in 1975. (He was elected to a four-year term in 1976.) He proposed legislation eliminating the industry, which he signed on Feb. 11, 1976.

The concept of bail comes from English common law, where defendants (or their relatives) would pledge property or money as a promise to return for trial. If the defendant does not appear, the bail bondsman pays the entire bail amount. That’s why they often employ state-licensed bond enforcement agents or “bounty hunters” to return missing defendants for trial.

Critics of the system maintain commercial bail bonds are expensive, penalizing poor people, and transfer power to decide who goes free to bail bondsmen instead of judges. Other criticisms are corrupt bail bondsmen, judges and corrections officers and the bondsman’s inability to ensure a defendant’s appearance at trial.

You’ve ended up in a bit of trouble and now you need to see a bail bondsman about getting a bail bond so you can get out of jail. Even though you only have to pay ten percent of the bail to the bondsman, it’s still a lot more money than you have on hand. One way around this is to establish a payment plan so you can pay the fee in instalments.

Everything is set and you’re out of jail. Everything looks good so why should you pay your bail bondsman?

There are six main reasons why you need to continue making your bond payment and make it on time.

Your Bail Will Be Revoked

Depending on where you live, a bail bondsman can revoke your bail for non-payment. If your bail is revoked then the bondsman can arrest you and turn you over to the authorities. You will then be put back in jail and the bondsman still gets to keep the ten percent bail fee.

You May Not Be Able To Get  On Another Bond Payment Plan

If your bail has been revoked because of non-payment and then you are put back in jail, it may be difficult to find another bondsman who is willing to put you on a payment plan. This means that you could spend a lot of time in jail waiting for y our court date. Even if you can find a bondsman willing to take a chance, you will have to pay the bail fee payments twice; once to the original bail bondsman and again to the second bail bondsman.

The Courts May Not Give You Bail

Even if you could find another bondsman who would be willing to give you another chance with a payment plan, the courts may not allow you to be released on bond again so you will have to stay in jail.

Your Bail Bondsman Can Sue You

Even if your criminal charges have been settled you still need to continue making your bail bond payments. If you don’t, the bail bondsman can start civil court proceeding against you to pay not only the bond fee payment but also any legal costs that they may incur as a result of starting a civil action against you.

Your Bondsman Can Sell Your Collateral

If you left collateral for the loan, the bail bondsman may end up selling it to pay the bail bond fee.

Your Bondsman Can Send A Collection Agency After You

If you stop paying your bail bond payment, the bail bondsman may begin charging you interest or late fees on the money owed. The bail bondsman may also give the bill to a collection agency which may go after the people who put up collateral for your bail bond. This means either your friends or family may start receiving calls from collection agencies looking for the bond payment.

It is important to continue making your bond payments in order to keep yourself out of jail as well as making sure that your family and friends are protected from collection agencies.

Even if your criminal charges have been taken care of so you no longer need to fear going to jail, a bail bondsman can take you to court or sell your collateral.

Make life easy and pay your bail bondsman, just in case you need him again.

When my brother called asking me to bail him out of jail, I did not know what to do. Luckily, living in Las Vegas, NV there are many bail bonds offices around the courthouse. I picked one that was in a clean area and well-lit. The woman at the desk was very helpful. She was able to find my brother’s information and explain to me that I would need to pay 10% of the bail amount plus the warrant fee. She told me that since it was a traffic ticket, I would not get the bail back when he went to court, it would be subtracted from the total ticket amount.

Once I had the paperwork from the bail bondsman, I took it to the city jail so they could release him. I was surprised and upset to find out he would not be released until processed into the system. They were a bit evasive and disagreeable when I asked how long that could be; they told me up to 24 hours. The people in the bail office where much more helpful and nicer than the officers at the jail.

I was living in Florence, South Carolina when police officers banged on my door after ten o’clock at night. The Policemen were there to serve a warrant for on my son for fighting. They took him to jail and I wasn’t able to get him out until he met with the judge. The bails bondsman at the County Jail wanted $700 for his bond; I did not have enough money. I left in search of a cheaper bails bondsman. There were signs everywhere advertising bail bondsman but they all wanted the same amount, so I went back home, found one in the next county that would take $500 in exchange for a promise that he would show up for court. I met him at the county jail and he had a talk with my son. He told Jimmy if he did not show up for court that he would find him. I was grateful for this bails bondsman’s help because my son would have had to stay in jail until his hearing if he had not helped me.

A few years ago, a friend of mine needed to find a bail bondsman. Her place of employment thought she had shoplifted from a local convenience store in her town, so she looked around downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, by the courthouse for a bail bondsman. She found one directly across the street from the courthouse. He had her fill out paperwork with all her basic information, they talked about his fees and set up a payment plan, so she could make more than one payment. She said she had to keep in touch with him, much like with a probation officer and if she didn’t pay one of her payments, it would default back to the original amount due. She said the bail bondsman was very nice, and she paid off her debt to him within a few months.

Finding a bail bondsman can be a difficult process. One of my friends recently experienced this in the small city of Madison, in south central Wisconsin. It was early evening on a Saturday when my friend began her search because her boyfriend was in jail and she wanted to help get him out. She hadn’t been in the situation before, so she didn’t have any experience in finding a bail bondsman. The first thing she did was use her phone to find a local bail bondsman. She pulled up Google Maps andsearched “bail bondsman, Madison, WI.” This brought up several options. From there, she went on the web to see if people had any experiences that they could share about the bail bondsman listed. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to find any reviews so she decided to use Casey Bail Bonds, located right in Madison, because they were the most convenient. She said they were professionaland that overall, she had a great experience.

A gentleman in Valdosta, GA was arrested for writing checks on a closed account. He was taken directly to the local jail in Lowndes County. Upon calling his friends and family, a bail bondsman was found after looking through the yellow pages of the phone book. His ad happened to be the largest one on the page, but upon looking up reviews online he was also known as the fastest, most efficient bail bondsman in the town. He arrived at a local grocery store near the jail to accept payment and immediately posted bail for the young man who had been arrested. His prompt attention and pleasant attitude made an unpleasant experience more bearable to those involved.