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What Do Bail Bond Companies Look at When Creating a Payment Plan?
If you are looking into getting a bail bond, you might be wondering how payment plans are determined. Many people think that bail bond companies only look at credit scores when determining the payment amounts. While that may be true for some bail bond companies, that is not the case at Los Angeles Bail Bonds.
At Los Angeles Bail Bonds, we look at more than just our clients’ credit scores when determining a payment plan for their bail bond.
We look at a variety of factors when creating a personalized payment plan for our clients. We look at all of the following:
- How long at current address: This helps us determine the how likely it is that the client might disappear. Someone who has lived in the same house for a long time is less likely to run than someone who moves every few month.
- How long at current job: Knowing this lets us know how secure a client is in his or her job. This, in turns, lets us know in confidence if a client will be able to afford to continue making payments on the bail bond.
- Ties to the community: This is another way that we can try to determine the likelihood of a client running. People who have lived in an area for a long time, and have lots of family close by, are less likely to disappear than people who have no ties to the community.
- Credit: We still look at clients’ credit score, but it does not play as heavy of a role when determining payment plans. We do not require our clients to have perfect credit scores to get a bail bond. On top of that, we also look at other open credit accounts in the client’s name. This shows us the client’s ability to keep up with payments. Someone who is continually making payments on their accounts can better afford a bail bond than someone who has failed to pay for multiple credit accounts. We are more understanding with medical bills, because we understand that those are usually surprise expenses.
Another thing that we look at when creating a payment plan is the number of people willing to co-sign the bail bond. The more people willing to sign, the people we can rely on to make payments. Plus, having additional people helping with the bail bond can reduce the cost for each individual because the cost gets split more ways.
Something that some clients do not realize, is that if they put up more money as the down payment, the monthly payments will be smaller. That is why bail bond companies ask for larger down payments, it makes it easier on our clients down the line. They will be much happier making small monthly payments, than they would be if they had to make big monthly payments.
If you are ready to bail your loved one out of jail with an affordable bail bond from Los Angeles Bail Bonds, talk to one of our bail agents. They are available all day, every day to help our clients by creating personalized payment plans.