Website design By BotEap.comCompeting rates.

Website design By BotEap.comFor a while now, there has been a big shift toward bail bond companies that offer not only payment plans, but also minimal or no down payments and interest. Like other industries such as law firms, medical offices, etc., it is not difficult to have clients who simply cannot afford your service unless the business is willing to take additional financial risk and offer flexible payment options. Savvy credit card users may realize once they factor in how much they’d pay in residual interest, even bond credit cards have their drawbacks. While they are also subject to credit card late fees, the payment options offered by bail bond companies are starting to look quite attractive.

Website design By BotEap.comAlthough in-house kiosk fees are only 7%, a decent amount less than 10% to 15% to be charged by bail bond agents, it is a fee that must be paid in full; often an amount more than the defendant can pay. For small non-felony bail bonds, this might not apply, but would the bail industry really prefer someone to be held in jail for hours, sometimes overnight, so they can charge a minimum fee of $100? ? The answer is hopefully no.

Website design By BotEap.comOnline threat in disguise.

Website design By BotEap.comPerhaps these kiosks can affect small family businesses, but there is still a long time before this option is available to all prisons. A bigger threat to small businesses is the relatively recent developments of bail bond companies hiring aggressive search engine and social media marketing services. Driving to any city, it’s not hard to find a bail bond company, especially near jails and court buildings, so the industry seems to be doing pretty well. For example, if only a handful of businesses within a city went out of business, it would go largely unnoticed and bail bond kiosks could hardly be described as a punishing blow to the industry.

Website design By BotEap.comWith search engine trends showing an increase in bail bond-related searches, we can expect smaller businesses to be pushed out over the next 5 years due to increased online competition rather than newsstands. of sureties

Website design By BotEap.comThere is no shortage of literature describing how the recession has negatively impacted the bail bond industry. This can be seen in the competitive payment plans on offer, but the market itself is growing. Industry leaders routinely earn 7 figures a year. The number of people with a bail license issuing bonds far exceeds the number of companies with offices, employees, websites, etc. legitimate. This is analogous to real estate agents; You cannot expect everyone with a real estate license to compete with the big real estate companies, just as all bail bondsmen cannot expect to survive the economic and legislative fluctuations that all businesses face.

Website design By BotEap.comResponsibility of the defendant.

Website design By BotEap.comThe bail bond industry was entrenched and has yet to be built on a foundation of responsibility. Bail bond agents are paid a fee to make sure defendants appear in court so they don’t have to stay in jail in the meantime. Bail bond companies cannot be successful without adhering to this responsibility and maintaining very low forfeiture (also default) rates. If the courts allow this liability to be removed with these credit card bail bonds, then not only will there be a higher default rate, but it will also increase the State’s costs of having to hire people to apprehend fugitives. In Nevada, for example, there are more than 100 Las Vegas bail bond companies. Imagine the sum total of liability and overhead that each county would bear if kiosks were widely used.

Website design By BotEap.comOne way or another, there will always be a need for a group to take responsibility. For this reason, it is very likely that credit card kiosks will stabilize and serve only defendants who have very minor offenses (also misdemeanors). Potentially, in the future, what could happen is that bail bond kiosks are sold to bail bond companies to run inside jails. This would be analogous to how people can easily buy DVD kiosks from OEMs and offer the movie rental service as a private business. The kiosk manufacturer would benefit from the sale of hardware vs. team management. Of course, with bail kiosks provided by jails, there will always be the concern of whether the defendant will appear in court, even for unintentional reasons. Operationally, this is something that kiosk manufacturers cannot provide, and fundamentally, unrelated fugitives and suspects are apprehended by law enforcement.

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Website design By BotEap.comFor defendants recognized as a “flight” risk, judges may impose a higher bail to (1) indirectly prevent bail from being posted because it becomes unaffordable or (2) cause awards to be invested in both the bail that becomes additional pressure on the part of the family. or friends to appear in court. If credit card bail kiosks become widely accepted, the state could impose higher bail amounts for crimes in the event of an increase in fugitives. Any change like this would certainly help the bail bond industry by creating larger bonds to write on average.

Website design By BotEap.comThose who have not needed bail bonds may not know that the fee (also the premium) required for some defendants can be equivalent to and sometimes higher than the monthly salaries of your average doctor or lawyer. Not a bad day at work, right? If the State increased the bail amount for misdemeanors and common crimes, the bail industry could expect a measurable increase in revenue. Additionally, misconduct by a single individual or group can create the appearance of a crime problem within a city. If the number of fugitives were to increase due to bail bond kiosks, it would surely also increase the possibility of changing the bail bond program for certain crimes. However, the County may reduce the number of kiosks or tighten restrictions on their use to compensate for a problem before increasing bail amounts. There is a common saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

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Website design By BotEap.comAll in all, the arrival of new kiosks offering credit card surety bonds will not significantly change the business side of the industry as a whole. People with the ability to rescue quickly should be able to because prisons are indisputably overcrowded with non-violent offenders. While the image of the bail bond industry could use some improvement, it has remained virtually uncomplaining over the years for any failure to provide a valuable 24/7 service with incredible payment flexibility. Occasionally, you read or hear stories of bail bondsmen illegally soliciting services, but not frequently enough to generate widespread national recognition, like the 2009 home loan modification scams that made headlines weekly. For now, what the future holds is just speculation, but those in the bail bond industry should not fear that things will change overnight. For the most part, county credit card bailouts won’t change the industry as a whole, and since some results may be helpful, concerns should be resolved as time goes on.