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I think the national average is about 5%, but it depends on the bonds that a particular company writes. My skip rate is less than 1%, because I am in a small town and know most who I bond. They know that I will work with them, and know better than to run on my bond. For example, in the last 2 weeks, I have rebonded 3 FTA's (on my bonds), because I heard that they had missed with no official notification from the court. In two cases, I made the phone calls, the other called me. This is because my clients know me and know that I will work with them the best way I can.
The "outsiders" that I write are from research and gut feeling. I am more leery of them, but as long as the cosigner and collateral are good, I will usually write them.
Relationships with your clients, their clients, cosigners, LE, and local courts are vital. I have given Consents to reschedule court dates that were originally rejected, and sometimes later accepted. I have also had courts reschedule (when the defendant or their attorney had not filed a motion) just on my Consent and explanation of why the defendant couldn't be there. Most are very legit, but some that I expected a rejection on were accepted, and the defendant showed up at the later date. This falls back on my reputation with the court as both a bondsman and a BEA.
My hubby and I have saved various bondsmen hundreds of thousands of dollars in forfeitures before I started writing bonds. In the about 2 1/2 years since I started writing bonds, i have paid exactly two of them. One was for $1,000, and I had the defendant in custody 3 days later. The other was for $750, and I only need to have the time to pick up and collect on the collateral on it.
All bondsmen work differently. Some undercut the competition and collect less in collateral and fees. Those are usually the ones that you will have problems getting a reasonable fee from. We also have that problem, but understand it and accept it in our arrangement with them. The ones who can't and won't pay, we won't work for.
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Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO
Proud Member of the AB Reject Club
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