The Bail bondsman as the High Risk MerchantThe Bail bondsman as the High Risk Merchant Playing the role of bail bondsman can be very challenging and risky. This is not a common job that most people will major in college or venture into after high school graduation. As a bail bondsman, you deal with those in the justice system, criminal suspects, probation violators, lawyers, and bounty hunters. The fact that your bail bonds business transacts with these group of persons, makes it very hard for you to get a merchant account, so you to take the path of being a high risk merchant.
A day in the officeAs a bail bondsman, who on an average, gets 10% commission on every bond posted, your normal operations revolve around acting as a surety, or a person responsible for the debt or obligation, for a defendant in a criminal court. In getting in the shoes of a bailbonds man, you take money or a piece of property from a defendant in exchange for their temporary freedom. You take a risk of drawing a contract with a criminal defendant, with this contract saying that they’ll temporarily surrender cash or a property as bond for them to appear in court proceedings, that if they don’t show up, they wont’ get their money or property back and if necessary as the court will recommend, be on the to-chase list of a bounty hunter.
Bank connectionAn established connection with your local bank is a way to validate your business. You have this agreement that the cash or property bond will be paid to the court if the defendant doesn’t show up for the hearings. Also, as a bail bondsman, you have a special to make deposits for every new bail taking place.
Perhaps it is life’s irony that you, as a bail bondsman, who has a long standing agreement with a bank experiences a rather difficult time in placing a merchant account locally. A reasonable justification to this challenge is because a bailbonds business falls under their high risk category. And the last thing that banks want to tread on is risking their resources. Banks are all about security and stability, the very main attractive package for them to stay afloat.
What you can bargain forThere are types of bonds that you as a bail bondsman can utilize to earn for your living. You can either get cash or a property, especially if the bail posted goes up to 100 gran, or a third party to serve as a guarantor of the defendant. To further assure yourself that they’ll appear before the court and not run away, you can include in the bailbonds contract that they underwent random drug tests, electronic monitoring, or surrender their firearms.
Since you can go for a low risk merchant account, which will allow you to receive credit card payments from the defendant who’ll be posting bail, it is a wise move to get a high risk merchant account. Accepting credit card payments from criminal defendants seem risky.
But what you can do is to draw an agreement with credit card issuers to make the necessary arrangements when making bailbonds transactions. Such special arrangements include how to get the amount back into the account of the defendant once they confide with the court proceedings and only charging the credit card with your commission and other fees. This may only apply for cases with low bail amounts which apply to minor felonies, DUIs and DWIs, those with first-time offense, and non-violent offenders. The amount of bail is usually determined by a pre-trial services report.
Does a no-show a good thing for you as a bailbonds man turned high risk merchant? With a 10% guaranteed, non-refundable commission in the bag for you, but the rest of the amount to be given back after the trial, you may ask what if the defendant fleds? Will you get more? When they flee, it spells disaster conjuring up in all its synonyms. On your part, you’ll be hiring a bounty hunter to search the defendant and bring them to custody. This will cost you money and a fair trial has just been set aside. Don’t need to tap into the social responsibility aspect, but the most important thing is, no matter how risky a bailbonds man and moreover a high risk merchant, take into mind that you’re just trying to bring food into the table in the way you know are within the parameters of the law. |