Becoming a bondsman?

Hi,
I am currently a college junior majoring in ag business. I have been interested in the bail industry for a long time, but never really could find good information on it.

While I know this is a bail enforcement site, anyone know of any good sites for one to check out the other end of the business? Interested in the normal, average hours, average pay, etc. While I know they wil vary, I would like an idea as to if this is something I may be interested in.
Lance

Go to the department of insurance website for your State. It will list the requirements for becoming a bail agent.

As for the other quesions, there is no average pay, work hours, etc. Each State, locality if different. It all depends on local population size and level of crime and competition.

If you're looking for a 9-5 Mon to Fri job forget it. If you're looking to have holidays off forget it. If you're looking for a guaranteed pay amount each week or month forget it. If you're looking for benefits and retirement plans, for the most part forget it.

It is not fast pace non stop action as shown on tv or movies. It has its pluses but that usually take a while to become succesful enough to enjoy it.

If you get into it STRICTLY for the money, forget it!

Thanks.

I've found requirements for my state(Louisiana). I may check into getting a license and find someone to write under to see if I enjoy the work.

I really am not looking for 9-5, I'm looking to be able to help people and not be stuck behind a desk my entire day doig boring things over and over.

Its not just the money why I became a BEA. It's so I could have a cool nickname like "Rhino" and have a mullet, and wear a leather vest with no shirt. That's why.

_________________
Deen
360-606-4645
Office closed- thanks Obama

Winner do what losers refuse to do...

Rhino,

Are you a pretendian like doodoo? LOL! Just kidding[/quote]

_________________
Heather L. Sheridan
315-882-8008

Very funny Rhino!

Actually,

When my in laws started our bail office 11 years ago, it WAS for the money! They thought it was easy money writing bonds. You had no inventory to store, nothing to prepare or manufactor and for the most part, the customers came to you.

However, they quickly learned that if you look only at the premium that you take in and don't learn how people think or in most cases, DON"T think, you can get in over your head real quick.

I have seen many new bail agents get into the business and fail after a couple of years. The "easy" money just blinded them. They wrote bad bonds. Then they had to write more bad bonds to cover the first bad bonds. Then all they were doing was writing anything that came in the door. There was no customer service.

You have to be able to read people fairly quickly and accurately. Go with you first gut feelings and be able to relate to the defendants and their families. Once you start doing that then you begin to care or at least want to help them get through the situation they are in.

The best indication that you will have that you are achieivng that is when they invite you to their weddings, birthday parties, give you Christmas gifts, offer to let you stay at their vacation home in Acapuco, ask for advice on family or life issues, ask you to be their kids god parents and of course recommend you to all their relative and friends. I have had parents tell me that if I wasn't already married, they would want me to marry their daughter.

When you become a bail agent, you can be one of 2 kinds. The first is in it primarily for the money and helping people is second. Or you can be in it to help people and the money is secondary.

For us focusing on helping people has made our business very successful. We get clients that used to use the large corporate agencies because we provide personal service that they can't. We like to compare this way. You can go to Home Depot and talk to some kid that doesn't know a hammer from a hang nail or you can go to the guy that has been at the corner hardware store for 40 years and know every thing about every house in your home town.

Now about BEA's. I think the money is the best movtivator. You bring in the body, you get the bounty! Some hunts can be exciting. And helping get a skip off the street is icing on the cake.

Very well said, Tony, and right on target.

_________________
Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club

Thanks a lot.

I think one of the things that a buisness job won't do for me is enable me to help people.

I've always been the one everyone calls(usually in the middle of the night) if they have a problem. I guess I'm a good listener and have not had the easiest life myself, so know what it means to have someone to talk to and get their opinion on things.

Whether that has anything at all to do with the duty of a bondsman, I don't know.

Do bond companies hire outside agents? How would I go about looking for a job as a bondsman once I get my license?
Thanks a lot,
Lance

Some companies hire agents to write for them. There are many different scenerios for this, but most likely you will not have control over the bonds you write or personal liability for them. You will also not get rich writing them. What you will get is experience in talking to people, getting information from them, and what the agency requirements are for writing a bond.

If you have your own company (check your state and/or insurance company requirements), you will have the control over what you write, but also the liability to pay all forfeitures or get your skip picked up within the legal time limits. You still may not get rich (few do), but it may feed your feelings of helping people a little more.

There is good and bad in our businesses. Yesterday, my trainee and I travelled to another state where we set up another bondsman's skip, got him contained, and he ended up paying off the bond and the expenses that the bondsman had incurred in hiring us to locate and apprehend him. The bondsman was happy, the skip was happy that he didn't go back to jail, and we were happy that we had done the job we were hired to do. This skip was a minor misdemeanor so it was purely business.

Today, I got a call from an indemnitor on one of my bonds that the defendant had broken into her mother's house last night while they were gone, had made additional threats to their safety, etc. This wasn't the first time she had called me like this, but usually backed down when I pushed her on a revoke issue. The last time he had gotten picked up by LE on an additional charge, and I got him out on his word. He still owes me the premium for that bond and has been putting me off on the payment for almost two weeks. The indemnitor dumped him at my office, and when I went inside to get my keys so I could give him a ride to pick up his belongings, he took off walking and disappeared before I got back outside. James and I picked him (and his bags) up at the indemnitor's house a little while later, and brought him back to the office. After almost an hour of debating and questioning, I finally decided to revoke the last bond. Part of the decision was personal, part was professional. This guy had gotten injured last night (still debatable as to how), but he had a bad cut and bump on his head, and could barely stand up by himself.

Before my local jail would accept him, we had to take him to the ER for a medical clearance. This forced him to get the medical exam that I felt he needed. As semi expected, he had a large amount of cocaine in his system, but no real damage from the head injury. However, a CATscan showed a mass on his brain that the doctor felt could very possibly be an aneurism. This would not be unusual in a drug addict and the doctor strongly advised further tests next week. It is up to the jail to follow through on this.

I turned the guy into the jail on a revoke for the last bond, stating non-payment of the bond premium as the reason. This is a very legitimate reason under our state laws. I have not decided whether to revoke the larger bond (with the hysterical indemnitor) until she calms down and we talk about it. She really went nuts after I told her what the doctor said about the drugs and the mass. On a side note, her legal husband is getting out of DOC this Thursday, and she has plans to reconcile with him, although she still "loves" and feels sorry for my bondee. Right now, none of that is a real issue since he has no funds to rebond with another agent on my revoke. I don't necessarily feel good about the revoke, but then again, I'm not sure I really did him or any else a favor by getting him out in the first place.

One thing you quickly learn is to make sure you get your "out of pocket" expenses up front before you write a bond. I will seldom post a bond until I have my full premium in hand, but sometimes take a down that covers my expenses with payments on the balance. I have been screwed over a few times on these, but not that often. I rarely get a person out without my expenses covered, but if I know them and trust them to pay me within a day or so, I have done so. This is the first time that I have been totally scammed. Yeah, I have taken collateral and filed in small claims court, but if they have nothing, you get nothing. It is a lesson well learned.

On a good note, I got a call from another "repeat" and was just about to head for the jail to post his bond when my assistant brought the revoke back from the hospital. I killed two birds with one stone, so to speak. Took the one in, and got the other out. I may sit here for a few days and not even get a call, but this is a good example of how many of us spend our time. You have to make good decisions, correct bad ones, and do whatever it takes to pay the bills.

_________________
Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club