average pay in here

Kathy
Both you and my accountant held the same position on the matter. I showed her the material as presented in the course, and advised her that I desire to be compliant and that is that.

The course was absolutely clear that a BUF account is income, and not an expense. So a $20,000 BUF income vs. an Expense is a $40,000 swing! That would be one bad audit to have to pay back!

They also stated that collateral seized or held as a result of a bond forfeiture is also income, yet offset by any related expenses to the case.

I defer to your knowledge, as accounting is not my field of expertise, but I don't want to wrestle with the IRS either!

Scott

_________________
R.E. "Scott" MacLean III

"Leaders are like Eagles, you never see them in a flock, but one at a time"

Chesapeake Group Investigations, Inc.
Chesapeake Bail Bonds
877-574-0500
301-392-1100 (fax)
301-392-1900 (Office)

Tony, I won't go into detail about my prior "boss" bond agent or his GA, but the insurance company we wrote under is International Fidelity, and I have heard that other agents have had to file a lawsuit to get their BUF back from. I supposedly had a a BUF set up by GA, but he has verbally stated that I will NEVER get it, and I now facing not only a lawsuit with him, but also with the GA and insurance company that he writes for since I put money into my "alleged" BUF as well as into his BUF with the GA and insurance co.

The "hear-say" that I have heard about this insurance company (at least in CO) is that they want to hold the bondsman's BUF for 3 years after all liabilities are cleared to insure that nothing will come back on them. At least one agent that I personallhy know has taken them to court and won, but it still gives them a bad reputation.

I strongly suggest that a new agent thoroughly resrarch the insurance company who underwrites them before entering into an agreement with the insurance co. and/or a GA who writes for them. Talk to other agents who write for them, and also previous agents who have changed companies. Sometimes it is the agent, sometimes the insurance company.

From personal experience with the agent that I personally wrote under, and finding that his GA is more concerned with profits than operating an ethical business, and also hearing the stories about other GA's having to fight fo their BUF's, I would not do business with, or recommend this company.

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

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club

=OFF TOPIC=
Hey Tony...I LOVE the weasel pic! That's hilarious...I laughed out loud when I saw it.

I know Im late jumpin in here. From our records, not anything scientific, just 24yrs from one small company, we have about a 4% no show rate. Most FTAs are 500-2500 bonds. Not much problem on the bigger bonds, knock on wood.

Out of that 4%, about half can be talked in either directly or thru a family member or cosignor with my cunning witt and charm. The rest must be shown the error of their ways. Im normally not as charming at this point.

Anyway, thats our stats. We get a few 10ks that skip each year and once in a while a 50k or bigger, but almost all are under 5k.

One more thing, its funny, when the paperwork comes across the desk on report days, there are some I can just about bet are gonna FTA. If they dont live in the county where the bond is written and they dont live in the county where the charge is out of, like bond wrtitten in Miller Co, charge out of Pettis Co and they live in Shannon Co, 90% chance they are gonna FTA.

Im not up on this BUF stuff you guys are talkin about and Im praying I dont have to learn. We wanna stay independent. However some insurance companies are trying each year to lobby new legislation to put us out and make us go with them.

Last time I had an actual fund, I worked for four months for some crooks here local. They made me keep a "jump fund". The owner assured me that when I signed, we both had to sign the card to get the cash out. I had to put 5% of my half in the acct. In 4 months it was up to $3800. They screwed me out of 5k on a bond and some other things and I walked. The next day, the owner went to the bank and cleaned out my jump fund with just his signature. An honest mistake according to him. So he got me for $8800. We dont ask anyone to keep a jump fund.

My jump fund is in my bank. Its called my checking and savings accts.

I would recommend to any agent that gets shafted by a supervising agent, GA or surety to file a complaint with the DOI or bail bond board for you Texas folks.

Do not let them get away with this. Because if they're screwing thier agents, then they undoubtedly are screwing the public too.