by One question that many people often wonder is how you make money from being a bondsman. After all, you are responsible for the person to appear at their trial. In a sense, it can be a high-risk business, especially if you are sloppy on background checks and keep running into bad clients. Anyhow, it also can be a highly rewarding career.
How to Make Money From Being a Bondsman
- Service Fee
This will be your primary income. Because the defendants are paying you to post their bail. On average, an agency will charge 10-15% of the bail amount. This means, that if the defendant has $25000 bail, they will pay you between $2500 to $3750 and provide collateral. You are keeping the collateral safe until the defendant concludes their case.
2. Collateral
Several cases can be large enough and require the defendant to pay a high amount of bail, which makes it impossible to pay in cash immediately. Therefore, they rely on the bondsman to pay for them. In return, they provide collateral to cover the remainder of the bail.
If the defendant fails to appear at their court dates, the bondsman can repossess the collateral. Therefore, you must ensure that all the paperwork for collateral is legit and they are true to their worth.
Keep in mind that the collateral must be at least equal to the bail amount. In many cases, the collateral is worth more to show the defendant’s intention to follow the system and appear in court without fail.
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3. Payment Plan
As a bondman, you need to set several payment plans for your clients. This is crucial if you aim to have more clients on top of the regular ones.
This business model works best for an agency in a low-income area. They can charge a flexible payment method or accept credit cards for their service charge. It also works for clients who don’t have enough assets as collateral but have a steady job. They can pay their bail amount through this payment plan, which of course you already adjust to include all the risks.
Bondsman is Not a Bounty Hunter
Anyhow, keep in mind that a bondsman is not a bounty hunter. They have a different task even though they may overlap. But mostly they have different career paths.
As a bondsman, you pay for the defendant’s bail for the fee. Therefore, you guarantee that they will always come for trials. Your income is mostly from their service fee and collateral.
While bounty hunters are the ones chasing defendants who fail to appear in court. They chase the defendants and bring them to their trial on the set date. A bounty hunter’s income is from the bonds agency or the court, depending on where they get their job. And their fee also differs depending on the criminal’s charges and risks.
When you are a bondsman, you have the option to work in an agency or start one. But it’s best to join an agency to learn more about the system. After you’re proficient at navigating the court system, you can start your agency and provide the best service you can.
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