Friday, December 31, 2010

Signature Bond Defined, By Bail Bondsman in Long Beach Ca

This Portion is written by All American Bail Bonds Customer Service @ 866-743-8688

The second part of Bail Bonds Terms defined.

We will give those interested a brief definition of what the term "Signature Bond" means.

A signature bond is basically a bond written with no collateral.
Instead, a good signer (indemnitor) whose guarantying the bond.
It should be mentioned that a signature bond may also be called a no collateral bond.

The following are answers to a few questions received during a recent focus group on Bail Bonds

Q.
Do all companies offer signature bonds?

A.
No.
We have found that most of the larger companies do write signature bonds but their requirements and limitations usually vary.

Q.
What are the most common requirements for a signature bond to be written?

A.
We can only speak for our company; our requirements always vary depending on the dollar amount of the bond as well as the charges that the defendant is being charged.

We at All American Bail Bonds will often look at employment, credit or a combination of the two to determine if a signature bond is to be approved.

Off the record:
Being an agent myself for a couple of years with this company I can tell you that All American Bail Bonds follows a strict guideline “If You Work You Bail,” as the saying goes. As a larger company dedicated to customer service and promoting a positive image of the bail bonding industry All American Bail Bonds will do everything within reason to get your bond approved without any or very little collateral.

Q.
Can the person in jail (defendant) qualify for a signature bond himself without the additional help of anyone else?

A.
This is a tough one to answer with a yes or no; in order for the defendant to qualify with a signature bond only, we would have to look at not only the charges but as well as the defendants criminal history, job history, and credit history.

It should be noted that All American Bail Bonds will usually avoid writing a signature bond only when there are no other individuals or collateral involved in the security of the bail bond. The company has approved these types of bonds but normally will look for other signers.

Q.
With Signature Bonds can we still do payment plans if the full percentage is not an option?

A.
Yes,
All American Bail Bonds prides itself on its policy of the “bail now pay later” program.

Of course in order to qualify for a signature bond with no money down the company will require solid co-signers whose good name will be used to guarantee not only the bail premium but as well as the full face value of the bond.

We hope this information has been helpful, as the days go by we will continue to write additional blogs to better help the public understand the bail bond industry.

“Because You Have the Right to Bail”
For General Information on Bail Bonds and how Bail Bonds work or a Bail Bonds Service near you please visit:

http://www.allamericanbailbonds.net/

For information on jails and courts throughout Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties please visit http://www.citiesweserve.com/

Bond Exoneration Document Defined, By Bail Bondsman in Long Beach

It has come to our attention at All American Bail Bonds that there are many terms in the bail industry that people are unclear on, such as “bond exonerated.”

The following information was put together to help clear up those questions, please enjoy!

When you bail someone out through a licensed and accredited bail bondsman there will be certain things required of you to present to the bonding company once the defendants case has been concluded. The most important item you will be required to produce will be the bail bond exoneration certificate. The bond exoneration form may have more than one name. For example, some may call it “a certificate of discharge” as well as bond exoneration document, or you may be able to get a certified copy of the minute order. Whichever one of these forms you choose to get it needs to be certified by the court clerk, and it has to include the bond number, name of the bonding company as well as the surety. This form is the official court document that shows that the liability of the surety and the bonding company for the bond written has ended.

Please note: It is common practice for bail bonding companies to charge a fee of up to $250 for sending an agent to pick up the document from court. Every company that we have spoken with has told us that they have some fee written into the contract for those individuals who fail to obtain the document themselves. It should be mentioned that if you have hired private council (attorney) they themselves may obtain all necessary document from the court clerk’s office.

Below are some common questions that we have received in a recent focus group:

Q.
Why do we (client) have to produce the document?

A.
Bail Bonding companies are in an essence using someone else’s money (surety or insurance company) to guarantee the full face value of the bond. When the bond gets exonerated the surety requires the bonding company to send in the certificate of exoneration to remove the liability from their name. Especially, when you have collateral, the surety will not release the collateral until they receive the exoneration of bond.

Q.
Where do we (client) get the exoneration of bond document?

A.
The exoneration of bond document should be obtained from the criminal clerk’s window in the courthouse to which the case was heard.

Q.
If we (client) are willing to pay the additional fees can we just let the bonding company pick up the required document for us?

A.
Yes! The document required is a public document and anyone can pick it up, including your bail bondsman.

Q.
What if I (client) don’t pick it up what will happen to me?

A.
You will be charged a fee and if you fail to pay, then your file will go into collections.

Please Note:
If there is collateral for the bail bond, it will not be returned until the exoneration has been received, and of course all fees have been paid.

“Because You Have the Right to Bail”

For General Information on Bail Bonds and how Bail Bonds work or a Bail Bonds Service near you please visit:

http://www.allamericanbailbonds.net/

For information on jails and courts throughout Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties please visit http://www.citiesweserve.com/

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

What if I bail someone out, Things you should know before using a bail bonds service, By Bail Bondsman in Los Angeles

We at All American Bail Bonds decided to write this article after we received similar questions from a group of people we spoke to during one of our question and answer focus groups. The people we spoke to have all bailed out loved ones in the past, some have used our services, others our competition such as Aladdin, Absolute and Lipstick Bail Bonds just to name a few. We took all the questions we received and put together this small blog entry to help address the public’s most important questions on bail.

Q. 1.
Why do we have to put up collateral and if we do why do we have to sign a deed of trust?

A.
Collateral is not always required!, Being a larger more active company we have compiled history of good and bad bail. We have found that through proper negotiating we have been able to secure many of our bonds without the requirement of collateral. Many of the smaller bonds we may write will often not need collateral and are written as a “Signature Bond.”

For those bonds that we find are of a higher risk we may require collateral in the form of a pink slip or real property. If real Property is taken we the Bail Bonding Company will require a Deed of Trust, for the deed of trust is how we secure the bond itself ensuring that our investment in the bond is guaranteed.

SIDE NOTE: If a deed of trust has been taken as collateral you are basically putting up a property (home) as a guarantee that the defendant will appear in court each and every time. If the defendant fails to appear in court and we, the bonding company, are unable to locate the defendantto get him back to court then you may lose your property to cover the face value of the bond written plus all applicable “bounty hunting” fees or legal cost.

Q. 2.
If I put my property up as collateral and a lien is placed on said property, how do I have the lien removed?

A.
Once the defendant completes his/her court obligations and the bond is “Exonerated,” you will be required to go to the courthouse, clerks window and get the exoneration of bond document or a certified copy of the minute order showing that the liability to the bail bonding company has been concluded. It is your responsibility to get the form to your bail bonding company and request for the lien to be removed.

Please Note:
The bonding company will NOT remove the lien until they have received the OFFICIAL verification the bond has been exonerated; also the bonding company may require an additional fee before they can remove the lien, “lien removal fee.”

Once the exoneration of bond has been received and all contractual fees have been paid you will receive a “Full Reconveyance” usually within 30 days.

Please Note:
We at All American Bail Bonds have found that we could send out the reconveyance usually in less than 7 days.

SIDE NOTE:
A common misconception we heard within our focus group was the belief that once the bond is exonerated we receive our money back for the bond, this of course is incorrect.

The bail bonding company does not receive its money back once the bond is exonerated and even if the case is never filed the person who guarantees the premium is still responsible to pay the remaining balance until Paid off.

Q. 3.
What are the legal percentages that a bonding company may charge and can they negotiate whatever dollar amount that they want?

A.
First of all, the lowest legal limit that a bonding company may charge is based on their surety's filed rate with the California Department of Insurance. What we have found, here in California, the lowest legal limit is 8%and the maximum one can charge would be 15% up to $10,000, and not over.

For the most part, the maximum you will find will be no more than 10%, if you are charged a greater bail premium than 10% you should contact the department of insurance immediately.

PLEASE NOTE:
The Bail Bond business is a cash business and and with any cash business you will find “shady” companies.
If you find yourself in need of bail and you come across someone walking around a local jail or court facility offering to “discount” a bail bond, charge less than 8% which is the lowest legal limit, then we advise you to be very cautious and ask for their bail license and the name of their company. What we have found is that there are many individuals around local jail and court facilities who do offer illegal discounts who are not even licensed bail agents and in fact are no more than crooks themselves trying to steal from the unaware or naive.

PLEASE NOTE:
Never exchange cash in public unless you feel 110% confident that you are dealing with a licensed and accredited bail agent. We are seeing more people trying to steal from clients who are in need of a bail bondsman and are not properly educated on how bail works.

Q. 4.
What happens if the person I bail out “fails to appear” and the bonding company is unable to find him/her, the “fugitive?”

A.
In California if a bail bonding company is unable to locate the client within a maximum of 360 days from the forfeiture of the bail bond, the bail bonding company will have no other option but to pay the court the full face value of the bond written plus all applicable court anfd legal fees.

PLEASE NOTE:
The court will charge additional fees on top of the forfeited dollar amount!

If the bail bonding company is forced to pay the bond amount, plus fees, you the guarantor of the bond will be charged in turn for all fees that you have contractually guaranteed.

All American Bail Bonds has been conducting business for many years and never once have we not received full compensation for a forfeited bond that written correctly.

PLEASE NOTE:
DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE GUARANTEE OF A BAIL BOND UNLESS YOU ARE A 110% PERCENT COMFORTABLE THAT THE ARRESTEE WILL APPEAR IN COURT EACH AND EVERY COURT DATE, OR MAKE DARN SURE THAT YOU CAN FIND HIM/HER.

Now the above four questions might seem like common knowledge to some, but what are home work shows is that the average “good citizen” doesn’t have a real good idea of how this whole crazy bail process works.

SIDE NOTE:
To all the bail agents, no.……Bail Bondsman out there, we not only have a legal responsibility to the people that rely on us for the bailing out of their loved ones, we also have a moral obligation to do the “wright thing.”

I, no name necessary, have been writing bail for a lot of years, and I have met any number of good honest bail bondsman, and unfortunately have met more dishonest bail bondsman than honest. I have seen more shady bondsman and more shady going-ons’ and heard more horror stories than I would like to admit. We at All American Bail Bonds as a Bail Bonding Company have made multiple attempts to improve our industry and still have our fingers crossed that we the good guys can work together to rid Los Angeles of all those “bad Actors.” I guess we’ll just keep on trying!!

“Because You Have the Right to Bail”
For General Information on Bail Bonds and how Bail Bonds work or a Bail Bonds Service near you please visit:

http://www.allamericanbailbonds.net/

For information on jails and courts throughout Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties please visit http://www.citiesweserve.com/

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ALL AMERICAN BAIL BONDS
Lakewood Ca based Bail Bondsman with offices in Lakewood, Palmdale, Van Nuys, Long Beach, and Orange County