Bail is an unexpected expense most households in North Carolina can’t handle right away. The consequence for failing to meet its requirements is too great: watching a loved one locked up in prison while awaiting trial.
Thankfully, Charlotte bail bonds are easily obtainable to help your family overcome this ordeal with less stress. Instead of struggling to produce the necessary money to bail out your loved one, working with a bail bondsman gives you the opportunity to pay just a portion of it.
While a bail bond is a convenient option for the families of arrested individuals, there is no denying that it can still be rather expensive. Without a strategy, your loved one may still have to spend many nights behind bars.
To use a bail bond agent’s service in the most cost-effective way possible, use these tips:
Pay on Installment
Experienced bail bondsmen are willing to provide flexible payment arrangement for families in distress. They have been in this business long enough to understand that it is not feasible to force clients to pay the maximum amount they can charge all the time.
If you search hard enough, you can find a bail bond agency that accepts a down payment as low as 5%. This can reduce your expense from over a thousand dollars to a few hundreds. Of course, you have to pay the remainder on an agreed-on date.
Use a Credit Card
Paying with plastic is something many considerate bail bondsmen allow clients to do. If you do not have adequate cash to cover the portion of the bond up front, any major credit card under your name can be used.
If you do have cash, billing the bail to your card lets you stay liquid financially. Yes, you have to repay it with interest, but the chance to extend its due date to lessen the problems you have to contend with now is invaluable.
Be Creative With Your Collateral
A bail bondsman takes the risk of paying the court in full if your arrested loved one does not show up in the trial. This professional will not agree to take your business without any collateral, a security to prevent the accused from becoming a fugitive.
What collateral can you use? You do not have to include your house or car into the equation right away. Consider other assets that are valuable enough to match the bail. You can use a piece of jewelry, a gun, or even cash reserves in savings accounts.
At the end of the day, the kind of collateral that can be utilized for the deal is up to the bail bond agent’s discretion. Some bail bondsman may ask a promissory note to assist a collection agency to retrieve the money owed in case the arrested person disappears.
Cooperate With the Bail Bond Agent
Your motivation not to lose the collateral is the most effective way to keep this emotional event become a financial nightmare. Make sure your loved one attends all hearings to avoid forcing the hand of a bail bondsman to seize the collateral you used.
Having to spend money to prevent your loved one from staying jail without conviction is a sad reality. Choose a bail bondsman carefully to help stop the bleeding and to make your finances more manageable in the midst of this crisis.
