Few things are more shocking than
getting a phone call in the middle of the night letting you know that a family
member has been arrested and needs your help to get out of jail. No one plans
on having to help someone with bail and this is especially true when it comes
to financial matters. Depending on the reason for the arrest, a bail bond can
be expensive and require a significant amount of money up front.
If you work with a bail bondsman,
they will charge a premium in exchange for agreeing to pay the entire amount of
the bond. This amount is determined as a percentage of the total bond amount.
In most states, this percentage is set by regulations. For example, in California,
bail bondsman must set the premium at 10 percent of the total bond amount.
Bondsmen are not allowed to charge
more than this and cannot give a "discount" to clients.
So what do you do if you need to
secure a bond but don't have the cash on hand to pay the premium? One answer is
to use collateral.
This is essentially giving control
of a physical asset to a bondsman as assurance that the person who is receiving
the bond will make all of their court dates and fulfill all of their legal
obligations.
Certain providers of professional
bail bond services will accept collateral in lieu of monetary payment
to cover the cost of a bail bond premium. In addition, a judge might also allow
the court to accept collateral instead of money to cover bail if you are
working directly with the court system to arrange for bail.
If you are working with a bondsman
and want to use collateral instead of cash, it will be up to the bondsman to
determine what is acceptable as collateral. As a general rule, bondsman will
prefer to receive something that has a value that is at least 150 percent of
the total value of the bond. This reason for this is that if a person skips
bail, the bondsman needs to be able to sell the item put up as collateral to
cover his lost bond and also cover his time and effort in selling the
collateral item.
What kinds of items can be presented
as collateral? Again, it's up to the bond agent but almost anything that has
value can be used. The most common items used as collateral are:
- Property (such as a house)
- Car
- Recreational Vehicles
In these cases, the bondsman will
ask you to place the pink slip or deed in their trust. This doesn't give them
ownership but allows them to gain ownership of the item if the bond agreement
is broken. Smaller items such as jewelry, art or collectables can also be used
as collateral; in these cases, the bondsman may ask to physically keep the item
until the relevant court case comes to a conclusion.
Using collateral to cover the costs
of a bail bond can be extremely beneficial if you need help and can't afford to
pay a premium. However, the consequences can be severe if the person you are
helping out breaks the bond agreement.
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