Ever have someone who was at the wrong place at the wrong time?  Do you have a loved one who is in jail, and you don’t know what to do?  A Bail Bonds company can help you in more ways than one. We’ll go over what they do, how they help and what you need to know before you use a bail bondsman.

A bail bonds agent is a person who puts forth the money to bail a person out of jail.  Bail bonds as a business started in America in 1898 by Peter McDonough and his brother Tom in San Francisco.  When dealing with a bail bonds agent, there is always a contract to go over and sign. A person will want to make sure they fully read and understand this agreement before signing it. Once it is signed there is no backing out and is held fully responsible for keeping up their end of the contract. A licensed bail bonds agent has a contract with the local courthouse. This allows them to bail or release a person from police custody when the bail that is set by the court is posted by the bail agent.  In this agreement with the bail bond agent, the person agrees to show on all of their dates in court.  Bail is set and paid as a guarantee that will occur and if not the money is forfeited to the court.

When starting the contract with the bail bonds agent, the person signing is required to put down an initial payment to get it started. Normally this requires 10% down depending on the bail bonds company the person is working with. This down payment can be in cash, assets like property or vehicles or some of both to meet the down payment. This is the one thing that is required before the bail bonds company will bail the person out.

There are a few reminders when dealing with this type of company. If the person who is bailed out of jail does not show for court, the bail bonds company will take two different actions. The first they will come after that person and put them back in jail. If they cannot find this person, they will go and take all the money required for bailing that person out from the collateral provided in the agreement, including any property that was put up when the contract was signed. This means that they can take your home as payment, your vehicle and lots more. If a person does this, they need to make sure the person bailed out stays on top of everything and never misses a court date; otherwise it can hurt you more than them.