Category Archives: Bail Bonds

Myths about Bail Bonds

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Movies, TV shows, and crime novels may have given people an incorrect perspective about bail, bail bonds, and bail bondsmen. There are so many inaccurate ideas about the bail bond industry. In this blog, we will explore some of these myths and refute them as well.

It is a Myth that Bail Bondsmen are Bounty Hunters

This is simply not true. In fact, bounty hunters are not supported in most states. Bounty hunters are people whose intentions are to assist bail bondsmen and police officials in tracking down defendants that have skipped bail or missed court dates. Anyone with an active arrest warrant in their name falls into this category. Real life bounty hunter is not what they are portrayed as on television and in movies.

Bail Bondsmen are licensed to provide indemnitor services for people requesting to obtain a release from jail following an arrest. If the defendant skips their scheduled court date after being bailed out of jail, a warrant is issued for their arrest, and the police will begin to search for them. In other states, a bail bondsman will hire a bounty hunter to help hunt down the fugitive because they are the ones that forfeit the entire bond amount if they cannot bring the defendant to the judge’s bench. This, however, is not the case in all states; for example, Indiana.

It is a Myth that Bail and Bail Bonds are the Same Thing

Here is another area people are confused about. Bail is the amount of money set by the courts to act as collateral for an appearance for a scheduled court date. The court sets this amount based on the defendant’s prior criminal history and their likelihood to flee. The defendant can pay the courts this amount, which is usually large, or they can hire a bail agent to cover the amount with a bail bond. Bail bonds are the documents and methods used to gain the actual release from jail.

It is a Myth that Bail Bond Costs Vary from Agency to Agency

The amount a bail bond company can charge for their services is mandated by local ordinances. In the Midwest, like Indiana, bail bond fees cannot exceed 15 percent of the person’s total bail amount. In these areas, bail agencies typically charge between 10 and 15 percent of a person’s bond total. This means at ten percent, $5,000 bail would cost a person $500 for bail bond services.

Uptown Bail Bonds

Call Uptown Bail Bonds at 317-919-2489 for fast and friendly bail bond services in Hamilton County, Indiana. We service the entire region of Hamilton County, as well as, all throughout Indianapolis and its surrounding counties. Our licensed and insured bail bondsmen are highly trained and experienced, and can offer accurate and up-to-date information about bailing someone out of jail in Hamilton County. We offer 24 hour bail bonds, 7 days a week. Call 317-919-2489 and speak with a licensed bail bondsman about getting out of jail in Hamilton County, IN.

How Do Bail Bonds Work?

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If your son, daughter, co-worker, friend, or loved one has been arrested for a petty or misdemeanor crime, don’t worry yourself into a frenzy. You can quickly get them out of jail by using a trusted bail bond company. So long as they were arrested sober, you can obtain a release from jail in as little as one hour in some cases. Even when there is moderate to heavy traffic at the jail, you can still get a friend or loved one release in as little as a few hours or so. It is best to understand how bail bonds work before calling an agency and outsourcing their services. However, a reputable bail bond company can also offer you this same information for free, right over the phone. Either way, having knowledge about how the system works can not only better prepare you for what to expect, it can also eliminate the stress that comes with discovering someone close to you has been arrested. Continue reading to learn how bail bonds work, and which company to trust for prompt and professional services.

Going to Jail

As soon as a person is arrested, they are taken to the nearest county jail. So if someone were arrested in Noblesville, Indiana, they would be detained at the Hamilton County jail. Once a person is transferred to the jail, they are placed in a holding cell that looks much like the jail cells you’ve probably seen on television. These holding cells are generally located directly in the booking and processing room. Booking and processing are terms that refer to the process of getting an arrestee’s fingerprints, mug shots, personal information, and more, and then entering all these records into the jail’s database system.

An arrested person will wait in their holding cell until jail staff can get to them and begin their booking and processing. This can take anywhere from a couple of hours, to an entire day or more; depending on how busy the jail is, the number of staff working, and whether or not an arrested person is intoxicated. If intoxicated, jail staff cannot begin the booking process until the arrestee is entirely sober. This usually means they won’t even check on them for at least 8 hours. Once they are sober, they can be booked and processed.

Bail Bond Process

Now once a person has been booked and processed, they are eligible for bail. They can either call a local bail bond company for immediate assistance and service, or they can call a friend or family member and have them call a bail bondsman. They can forgo both these options and pay their bond in cash, but this is rare considering not many people have this amount of cash on hand. If a person does choose to pay their entire bond amount in cash, a total that can be upwards of 10,000 or more, they will be released from jail and their payment will be returned when they appear for their scheduled court hearing.

Calling a Bail Bondsman

When a person calls a bail bond company, they are making a good choice. This is the easiest and most secure way to obtain a release from jail for yourself or another person. A bail bond company pays the entire bond amount, in exchange for a small non-refundable fee. This fee is mandated by law, so no other bail bond company charges more or less for their services. Bail bond prices are figured by calculating ten or fifteen percent of the person’s total bond amount. So if a person’s bond amount was 10,000 dollars, a bail bondsman will ask for a non-refundable fee of 1,000 to 1,500 dollars for his services.

In addition to this fee, the person bailing a friend or loved one out of jail with a bail bond will be obligated to sign a contract stating they are responsible for paying the remainder of the arrestee’s bond amount (in this case, $9,000 or so) if the defendant fails to appear for court. So if the person you bail out of jail with a bail bond doesn’t show up for their schedule court date, you are legally responsible for paying the bail agent the remainder of their bond.

This is because the bail bond company forfeits the monies they put up for the arrestee’s release, with the expectation that they will receive that money back when the person shows up for court. So if they don’t show, the bail agent doesn’t get their money back, but they do have a binding agreement with the person who signed for the bail bond saying they are legally responsible for paying the bail agent back.

Uptown Bail Bonds

Bail Bonds Boone County Indiana

Bail Bonds Boone County Indiana 317-919-2489

Call Uptown Bail Bonds at 317-919-2489 for fast and friendly bail bond services in Hamilton County, Indiana. We are licensed bail bondsmen with decades of experience in the indemnity industry. We offer 24 hour bail bonds, county and state bonding, free jail and inmate information, and we serve several other cities in Indiana; including Boone County, Madison County, Marion County, and more! Call 317-919-2489 and speak with a friendly and knowledgeable bail bondsman in Noblesville, IN today.