I went to a bail bonding agency to bail out my cousin and they asked me for $200 for a down payment. I thought the bonding agency made that payment. What’s the deal?

When you have a bail bonding agency help to pay the bail for someone to get out of jail, that bonding agency generally requires a down payment. The down payment helps to ensure that the defendant that you are bailing out of jail will return to court to stand trial. If the individual fails to return to court, then you will forfeit the down payment that you have made to get your cousin out of jail.

Most bail bonding agencies charge a ten percent down payment on the cost of the bail. In your case, it sounds as if your cousin has a bail set at $2,000. This means that in order to get your cousin out of jail, the bonding agency will post a bond of $2,000. This bond may be in cash, sureties, or real property, depending on the assets that you have to contribute.

In the event that your cousin fails to show up to court for his or her trial, the bonding agency will be required to pay the full amount of the bail. If you have put any money up for the bond, such as cash or collateral, then you will forfeit that money as well. As such, the bonding agency is, in a sense, giving you a loan until the date of the trial.
The bonding agency is responsible for ensuring that the defendant shows up for trial as long as the agency pays the bail bond. As such, most bonding agencies recruit bounty hunters and police officers to escort a defendant to court to stand trial. The U.S. is the only country that still allows bounty hunting.

When you are asked to make the $200, you may or may not get this money back, depending largely on whether or not your cousin shows up to court. Therefore, it is wise to only put the money up if you trust that your cousin will follow-through with court. Otherwise, you should ask your cousin to use his or her own money or to wait out the time until the trial in jail.