If the bail agent is willing, he posts the entire bond in exchange for a fee, customarily 10 percent of the total bond. The bail agent loses all of the bond and usually his 10 percent commission if the defendant fails to show up in court. The private bail agent can only stay in business if at least 95 percent of his clients show up in court. Uncounted numbers of agents have gone broke for failure to run their bonding business as a business. That is why surviving private bail agents are so efficient at ensuring the appearance of their clients - at no cost to the taxpayers.
Bail bondsmen expend a great deal of energy and ingenuity in getting their defendants to court.
Usually bondsmen require a cosigner for the defendant s bond, typically a family member. With family members property at risk, the odds improve that the defendant will come to court. If he is a no-show, his family as well as the bondsman lose a lot of money. How Bounty Hunters Make Private Bail Work. Most work part-time because their primary business is bail bondsman or private investigator.