# Why do I only have to pay 10 percent of bail? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000 "2006-10-02T16:51:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/1 "2006-10-02T16:51:53Z")
I don’t get it. Why set bail at 10 million dollars when I only have to pay 1 million to get out. Shouldn’t bail just be 1 million then? Am I mising something along the way? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/2 "2006-10-02T16:54:55Z")
Because you used a [bondsman](http://www.ehow.com/how_110885_make-bail.html). ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/3 "2006-10-02T17:09:17Z")
If you can afford the 1 Million dollars, you will lose NONE of it if you show up to court. You get it all back. If you can only afford the 10 percent, you pay that amount to a bondsman and you lose ALL of it even if you show up to court! The bondsman keeps it as a service fee. If you _dont_ show up to court, then you’ll also lose whatever collateral you signed over to the bondsman as a gauruntee that he wont have to chase your ass. If you never show up to court, he is responsible for paying that full 1 Million dollars. (Well his insurance is anyway.) That’s why they will come and get you if you pull a noshow. Bail is 1 million. Either you pay the 1 million to the court, or you get a bondsman who _ensures_ your appearance for a fee. That fee is 10%. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/4 "2006-10-02T17:11:36Z")
Gosh **Surbey** , who are you and what did you do, to get $10mil bail??? Will you be on the evening news? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/5 "2006-10-02T17:14:24Z")
[QUOTE=Surbey] I don’t get it. Why set bail at 10 million dollars when I only have to pay 1 million to get out. Shouldn’t bail just be 1 million then? Am I mising something along the way? [/QUOTE] Sounds like you’ve experienced this more than once. Repent before it’s too late! Or perhaps you worked for Enron. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/6 "2006-10-02T17:19:49Z")
[QUOTE=Bear\_Nenno] If you can afford the 1 Million dollars, you will lose NONE of it if you show up to court. You get it all back. If you can only afford the 10 percent, you pay that amount to a bondsman and you lose ALL of it even if you show up to court! The bondsman keeps it as a service fee. If you _dont_ show up to court, then you’ll also lose whatever collateral you signed over to the bondsman as a gauruntee that he wont have to chase your ass. If you never show up to court, he is responsible for paying that full 1 Million dollars. (Well his insurance is anyway.) That’s why they will come and get you if you pull a noshow. Bail is 1 million. Either you pay the 1 million to the court, or you get a bondsman who _ensures_ your appearance for a fee. That fee is 10%. [/QUOTE] I think your numbers are off - do you mean 10 million where you say 1? ---
**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/7 "2006-10-02T17:22:01Z")
Well, remember that forest fire in California… I just never understood. Now I do. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/8 "2006-10-02T17:24:35Z")
[QUOTE=Bear\_Nenno] Bail is 1 million. Either you pay the 1 million to the court, or you get a bondsman who _ensures_ your appearance for a fee. That fee is 10%. [/QUOTE] It’s actually a type of insurance isn’t it? The bondsman has to make good to the court if you do fail to appear, so the fees are accumulated into a fund from which the bondsman. Of course this doesn’t prevent the bond company from attempting to track down the client and recovering some of their loss. I’ve heard that defendants at the million-dollar bail level are usually urged to invest what money they can raise on good counsel rather than on being able to sleep in their own beds during the trial. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/9 "2006-10-02T17:28:09Z")
grrrr. god I hate math. Let’s try that again. You post your own bail: You pay the court 10 million but you get all of that money back when you show up to court. If you dont show up to court, the clerk of the court keeps your money and a judge issues a warrant for your arrest. You have a bondsman post your bail: You pay him a fee equal to 10% of your bail. You lose this amount no matter what. You will also be required to sign over some collateral equal to or greater than the 9 million dollar risk he’s taking on your behalf. So if you dont show up for court, a warrant will be issued for your arrest and the bondsman will start civil proceedings to take your yatch or ranch house or whatever it is you signed as collateral. The bondsman then sells that to pay off his debt to the court. _Someone_ owes the court 10 million dollars since you didn’t appear. I believe they have insurance companies to back them up, but that’s a huge hit that would probably put him out of business, he’d lose his insurance and it would be difficult for him to get some elsewhere. So he’s gonna go get your ass so he doesn’t have to pay! ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/10 "2006-10-02T18:32:03Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] It’s actually a type of insurance isn’t it? [/QUOTE] No it is a bond. Not quite the same thing. Insurance creates a reserve to pay claims, bonds do not. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/11 "2006-10-02T20:15:09Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] Because you used a [bondsman](http://www.ehow.com/how_110885_make-bail.html). [/QUOTE] [Not just any bondsman](http://www.dogthebountyhunter.com/)! ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/12 "2006-10-02T20:38:27Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] No it is a bond. Not quite the same thing. Insurance creates a reserve to pay claims, bonds do not. [/QUOTE] Insurance and bonding are different, yes. But often, insurers have a bond division for such things as fidelity bonds, performance bonds, and surety bonds as used in, say, construction. (But insurers do not, as far as I can tell, deal in bail bonds.) Since insurers can and do handle bonds, the confusion about insurance and bonding in the general public’s mind is understandable. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/13 "2006-10-02T20:48:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*Most commonly, the court will direct that bail be posted in cash or as an insurance company bail bond. Often the bond amount will be higher than the cash alternative, because courts are aware that bond companies generally accept well less than 100% of the face value of the bond as security. \*\*Once cash bail or a bond is posted, the court has the authority to order a hearing (a “surety hearing”), to determine whether the bail money came from legal sources. > > Although the law appears to require that the judge give at least two alternative ways of posting bail, a number of judges will set “cash only” bail. Unless a lawyer can persuade a reviewing court to change such an order, bail will then have to be posted in cash rather than as any type of bond. [http://www.legal-aid.org/SupportDocumentIndex.htm?docid=104&catid=34](http://www.legal-aid.org/SupportDocumentIndex.htm?docid=104&catid=34) ---
**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/14 "2006-10-02T21:03:30Z")
I don’t believe this warrants it’s own thread, but near my local courthouse there are bondsmen everywhere and they are all dirty little shacks. How profitable are these places? I would assume people do jump, but is it outweighed by those who don’t? ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/15 "2006-10-02T21:51:09Z")
I’ve noticed the same thing. They don’t tend to be all that nice looking, but then why would they be? Has anyone ever worked for one in a criminal setting. I’ve dealt with bonds in a civil setting such as the setting of a fiduciary bond. I think that is a bit different though. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/16 "2006-10-02T22:23:42Z")
[QUOTE=Caffeine.addict] They don’t tend to be all that nice looking, but then why would they be? [/QUOTE] WAG: It’s a given that they’re full of money, because handling money is what they do. It’s a further given that criminals know they’re full of money, because criminals are their clientele. Perhaps, then, it is in their best interest to look as shabby and run-down as possible, so as not to attract attention to the fact that they’re full of money and would therefore be attractive targets for some desperate crackhead to try to knock over. I mean, not that the desperate crackhead would get anywhere; these places are pretty secure, and they’re staffed by enormous beefy men who will cheerfully drop a tire iron on the crackhead’s skull. But why invite trouble? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/17 "2006-10-02T22:24:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Agents in large cities can make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, according to the Professional Bail Agents organization. But the average income nationwide is $25,000 to $50,000, the group said. [http://news.pajamasmedia.com/politics/2006/10/01/11135516\_Bail\_agents\_numb.shtml](http://news.pajamasmedia.com/politics/2006/10/01/11135516_Bail_agents_numb.shtml) But the business is getting competitive: [http://www.newsreview.com/chico/Content?oid=oid%3A10868](http://www.newsreview.com/chico/Content?oid=oid%3A10868) (describing profits as “razor-thin” at best) And skipped bail is apparently a big problem: > [@](#): > > Seven insurance companies have declared bankruptcy rather than pay forfeited bonds after defendants failed to appear. Industry observers say the new agents largely have abandoned pursuing such defendants, leaving the task of recapturing the defendants to local authorities. [http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-10-13-bail-bonds\_x.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-10-13-bail-bonds_x.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/18 "2006-10-02T22:43:00Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] WAG: It’s a given that they’re full of money, because handling money is what they do. [/QUOTE] Actually, they underwrite bonds. I’d be surprised if they had a lot of cash around. A stolen bail bond would be pretty worthless. Here is an example of a bail bond: [http://doi.state.nv.us/Form-PL-330.pdf](http://doi.state.nv.us/Form-PL-330.pdf) Of course, they might have some cash and checks on hand from premium payments, if that’s what you mean. Here is a FAQ from a bailbondsman: [http://www.kingstahlmanbail.com/bailfaq.html](http://www.kingstahlmanbail.com/bailfaq.html) And another: [Redirecting…](http://www.bailyes.com/faq.htm) And a third (each one has slightly different coverage): [http://www.ebail.com/faq.htm](http://www.ebail.com/faq.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-only-have-to-pay-10-percent-of-bail/375000/19 "2006-10-02T23:05:18Z")
[QUOTE=Gfactor] Of course, they might have some cash and checks on hand from premium payments, if that’s what you mean. [/QUOTE] Yes, that was my intent. I don’t figure they’re carrying sacks of money to the courthouse, but the homeys coming to bail out Joe Crackpipe may well have a pile of twenties in hand. That money gets locked up until somebody can take it to the bank.