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 There
are some 14,000-bail agents currently working in the
United States. Of those, there are some agents in
high population cities that make hundreds of
thousands of dollars a year and there are other
agents in those same large towns that won’t make ten
thousand dollars a year. The average bail agent
across the country probably makes between
twenty-five and fifty thousand dollars a year The
bail profession is probably more about whom you know
(or rather who knows you) than what you know. To be
successful, you must be known by a very large number
and extremely diverse group of the local population.
Getting Started:
Before you worry about getting a license, take some
time and evaluate your market. Talk to the Sheriff
of your county and see what he requires to approve
bail agents. Talk to the Police officers and
Sheriff’s deputies you know and see what they think
of the idea of your writing bail. If you don’t know
the Sheriff and a lot of the police in your area,
this may not be a good business for you. While it’s
certainly not required, knowing the local law
enforcement certainly helps being a bail agent. How
many criminal defense attorneys do you know? Do you
know the prosecuting attorneys in your area and how
well do you know the Judges? These are the key
audiences of the bail agent and without them you’ll
be starting with a severe deficit.
Other questions you need answered are how much
competition is there in your area. Are you in a high
population center with scores of companies already
there? Are you in a small county with only one
company? Sometimes that one company will be harder
to compete against than the high population center.
If they’ve been there a long time and have a long
established record of fair dealings in the community
and are well respected by the law enforcement and
judicial community, it will be very hard to compete
with them.
The other question you need to answer is how many
people go to jail and of those how many actually
post bail as opposed to being released on their own
recognizance or some other court release program.
There are four states that do not have commercial
bail; they are Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon and
Wisconsin. And there are other places where they
have very little commercial bail, such as Maine and
Nebraska.
How to become licensed:
In most states, bail agents are licensed by the
Department of Insurance. There may not be a license
specific for bail agents; in many states, the
license required is for property & casualty
insurance. Contact the licensing division of the
insurance department of your state and they can tell
you which license you need. If they don’t have a
specific bail agent’s license and they seem confused
about what you need, tell them you need a license to
post surety bonds.
Ask them what the education requirements are for the
license and where you can get the education. Ask
them if there is a separate test required and where
to take the test. Then ask them to send you all the
forms you need to apply for such a license and how
much money you will need to send in with the
application. Ask them are you needed to submit
fingerprints; pictures or anything else required
they haven’t told you about.
A Bail Bond Board regulates the state of Arkansas
and you will need to contact them, rather than the
department of insurance. In a few states, if you
have enough money, you don’t need an insurance
company and you can put the money up with the court.
You will need to contact your courts if you feel you
would qualify.
LINK TO LIST OF STATE INSURANCE DEPARTMENTS
Why do I need an insurance company?
Unless you are independently wealthy and live in one
of the states that allow personal surety, sometimes
called pocket bondsmen or property bail agents, you
must be appointed by an insurance company to write
bail bonds.
What does an insurance company do for me?
When you consider what a bail agent does, where does
the insurance company fit in? If the bail agents’
job is to return the defendant to court, how does an
out of state insurance company help? If you’re not
wealthy enough to write on your own assets, then you
need the assets of an insurance company to guarantee
your bonds. When an insurance agent sells an auto
policy, the agent gets a small commission and if the
auto is damaged, it’s not the agent’s problem. The
company steps in and settles with the policyholder.
When a bail agent writes a bail bond, the agent gets
the money and pays the company a premium. And when
the defendant doesn’t appear, the agent recovers the
defendant and if they can’t recover the defendant,
the agent pays the bond. The purpose of the
insurance company is to step in if the agent fails.
It’s more reinsurance than insurance. The bail
insurance company covers the agents’ family if
something happens to the agent by cleaning up the
outstanding liability accrued by the agent.
What determines how much I have to pay the
insurer?
The premium rates an agent pays a company is
determined by the financial status of the agent. The
financial stability, credit ratings, community ties,
experience level and other factors determine the
agent’s rate. The other determining factor is the
amount of money placed into a collateral account or
build-up-fund (BUF) by the agent. What is a BUF? It
is money that belongs to the agent, held by the
company in trust, which guarantees the company that
the agent will fulfill the obligations of their
contract. What happens to the BUF? The BUF is the
agent’s money – the company must be accountable for
it – and if the agent takes care of their business,
it turns into quite a retirement account. If the
agent fails, then the BUF is used to pay judgments,
recovery fees and legal fees. A word of caution here
– if you become an agent, make sure your BUF is held
in an FDIC insured account and that you receive
monthly statements showing what’s there. Too many
people have lost money to dishonest general agents
and a couple of companies that went bad over the
years. It is the best policy that the insurance
company holds your BUF. At any rate make sure that
you receive a copy of the bank statement each month.
What else should I do?
When you decide on the insurance company you want to
represent, you may have to deal with their general
agent. Many companies use general agents (GA’s) as a
buffer between the company and the agent for
liability purposes. They also use general agents
because of the expense they would incur if they had
to hire all of the personnel necessary to train and
supervise agents. Some companies have one national
general agent while other companies use large
regional general agents. Once you’ve found the
company and general agent you want to work with, you
need to take your time and make sure of what you’re
getting into. Have them explain the contract to you
in detail and then take the contract to your
attorney and see if the attorney’s interpretation is
the same. If it’s not, ask yourself the question,
WHY? In any contract, you assume specific
obligations and you need to fully understand what
you’re doing – so take your time.
One last thing – ask for a referral list of the
general agents/companies agents and call them up and
find out how well they like the GA/company. Ask
those agents if they know anyone who ever had a
problem with the GA or the company. Get their phone
number and call them up and find out what the
problem was – it may be sour grapes and there again
– you won’t know if you don’t ask!
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