What Makes A Bail Bond Good – Comment
The main takeaway from this excellent article is that often times what makes a bond “good” is the security of its transaction. If a bond has a face amount of $100,000 and mom is willing to sign and is willing to put up her house to ensure her sons appearance in court, it is often worth more then the sum of its parts.
Even if said property is only worth say, $30,000 if said house has been in the family for an extended period of time it’s value to the family likely matches or exceeds its value of the bond to the bonding company.
Often times in middle and lower income families, such homes are generational; passed down from parents to children over time. Such a house becomes a safe haven to the family, the one safe place for them to fall when on hard times. Usually these house are unencumbered, any debts against the property has been paid off a long time ago. The threat of losing a generational assets like that is usually enough to keep all but the most desperate defendants from missing court. It really comes down in most cases to determining two things
1. Who the defendant truly cares for
2. What the defendant and his/her cosigners value.
Once a bail bond agent has the answer to these 2 questions it becomes much easier to determine if a bond is “good”. If the person or persons identified in question one will not wager the answer to question 2 then their is likely something their not telling you. In a simpler vein, if their willing and the defendant absconds, the signers will be much more motivated to do everything in their power to facilitate the defendants capture. Too often the signer works to hide and or obstruct the recovery of a principle because they simply have little or no skin the in game. Once what they value is at risk the true scope of the defendants betrayal becomes obviously and the cosigner becomes for Malleable to the requests of the agent because they are no longer works at cross purposes.