24-Hour Bail Bonds – Anytime, Any Jail – Serving all of SC
Call us now at (843) 554-2005
24-Hour Bail Bonds – Anytime, Any Jail – Serving all of SC
Call us now at (843) 554-2005
CHARLESTON | COLUMBIA | AIKEN | NEWBERRY | GREENVILLE
CHARLESTON | COLUMBIA | AIKEN | NEWBERRY | GREENVILLE
What’s the Difference Between Bail and Bond?
Most people have heard of the terms bail and bond. You can hardly avoid them when watching the evening news or one of the popular crime shows like Law & Order or NCIS. What you might not know though is that they are very different things.
Then why are the two terms always mentioned together? And what’s the difference between bail and bond?
Let’s take a look at what each is and why it’s so common to hear them together.
Bail: You’re get out of jail for-almost-free card
When you or someone you know gets arrested the arresting officer takes them to a detention center immediately for processing. Processing, also known as booking, is the paperwork necessary to put the person into jail.
After paper work is complete they are held in jail until the next available bail hearing which takes place in front of a judge.
To confuse matters these bail hearings often take place in a bond hearing court and are also commonly known as bond hearings or arraignments. For example bail hearings in Charleston County take place at the Centralized Bond Hearing Court in North Charleston.
(Another reason people struggle with the difference between bail and bond.)
The purpose of the bail hearing (sometimes called preliminary hearing) is for the judge to set the bail amount. The judge’s goal is to choose the right amount of money for the defendant to pay to be released from jail. The money is a guarantee that they will show up to their actual court date.
We call this money (or other financial guarantee) bail.
If the defendant themselves (or their friends or family) can pay the bail amount then the court releases them from jail immediately. This is also known as posting bail.
NOTE: The court refunds the full bail amount if the defendant shows up to all of their court dates.
Bond: Your get you out of jail for-a-fee card
In short, a bond is a loan offered to help you pay your bail amount when you get arrested.
Think of this like buying a car or a home. When you buy a car with little or no money down you are making a promise to pay the balance in the future. Just like a loan for a car or a house you need to qualify and pay the person loaning you the money to do so. In the case of a car or a house you do this with a down payment and with interest.
For a bail bond – a loan to cover your bail amount – we call this the bail fee or premium. You pay this fee to a certified bail bondsman and it is non-refundable.
The amount of the bail fee varies from state-to-state and person-to-person but each state regulates the maximum amount a bond fee. For South Carolina the largest legal bail fee is fifteen percent.
Conclusion: The difference between bail and bond
As you can see the question shouldn’t be “what’s the difference between bail and bond?”
Instead it should be what is the difference between bail and a bail bond.
Bail is the amount you need to pay to be released from jail. A judge sets the bail amount at a preliminary bail hearing. What is the judge’s goal? His or her goal is to get the defendant to show up for court.
A bail bond is a loan provided as a service by a bail bondsman. You use a bail bondsman when you are unable to pay the bail amount yourself. In exchange for a non-refundable bail fee the bail bondsman shows up to the bonding court and posts bail for the defendant.
Now the next time you are watching CSI: Miami you’ll can explain the difference between bail and bond to everyone in the room.
If you still have questions about bail bonds call us today and we would be happy to explain the process further.
