Do You Get The Bail Bond Money Back?

A common misconception people have about bail bonds is that you get the bail bond money back.

The reason that this misconception exists is because there does exist an option for you to put the bail bond money and get it back at the end. For that to happen, you’d have to put up the entire bail bond amount with the court.

For example, if the bail is set at $10,000 you could put up that $10,000 money with the court directly through a more compliacted process. But you’d also get that money back at the end of the court case, which could take several months or several years. But you would get the money back.

Because that process is more complicated, most people just use a bail bondsman. When you use a bail bondsman you pay them a one time, non refundable fee for the service of them putting up the full bail amount  for you with the court. They typically 10% for that fee. Thats the price that you pay for them for the service of putting up the $10,000 or whatever the bail bond amount is. You don’t get that money back.

Bail bonds are regulated by the department of insurance, and the 10% amount is a DOI regulated fee.