California Bail Bond Blogger

Bail Bonds and Credit Card Cash Advances???

2009-02-10T18:32:00.000-08:00

Over the years, a few of my clients have experienced their credit card company categorizing our bail bond premium as a cash advance. This is clearly a misunderstanding by the credit card companies as to what type of transaction has taken place. They assume that the cardholder is receiving cash in order to post a bond at the jail. This could not be further from the truth. Moreover, when this mixup occurs, the cardholder believes that we as the bail bond agency has some sort of control as to how the charge is sent through...not true again! We put this through as a normal charge. We don't even have an option to assign a charge as a cash advance, and we never give cash back to the cardholder.

Here is an explanation regarding how cash advances work as written in WiseGeek.com...

In the world of credit cards, a cash advance is an option cardholders can use to borrow actual currency against their current balances. For most credit card users, the amount of cash available for a cash advance is a small percentage of their overall credit limit. Statements issued by the bank will generally provide two sets of numbers: the credit limit and the cash advance limit.

Receiving a cash advance can simply be a matter of using a credit card at the nearest ATM. Many electronic banking machines offer credit card users the option of a cash advance. As long as the requested amount does not exceed the current cash advance limit, the ATM or other electronic banking machine should dispense real currency. If the amount of the cash advance does exceed the current limit, the ATM may still dispense the money but also electronically flag the exchange. An unauthorized cash advance might be handled in the same manner as a purchase over the credit limit.

Even in a world where debit and credit cards have almost replaced cash, there are still some services and vendors which require immediate cash payments. Taking out a personal loan for a relatively small amount of cash could prove expensive, while debit cards can only supply what currently exists in a savings or checking accounts. During a cash emergency, such as paying the deductible on emergency dental work or a visit to the veterinarian, the best option may be to take out a cash advance against the balance of a credit card.

Using a cash advance option can prove to be expensive, so it's always best to explore other payment methods before incurring more debt. Any money gained through a cash advance will be added to the balance owed to the bank, which includes interest payments and other finance charges. Interest on some unsecured credit cards can reach 23% at times, which can quickly swallow up any benefits of a cash advance. This is why consumers should only borrow enough cash to resolve their financial obligation and make a sincere effort to pay back any cash advance quickly.

What's in a name?

2008-06-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

After nearly three years of enjoying the name Minuteman Bail Bonds...we are changing our name. Our new name is The Bail Bond Doctor..."The Bail Doctor" for short...

It is a long story why we resorted to this name change, but we are embracing it and will have fun with this new persona. I encourage you to let me know what you think of the new name.

Thanks!

UPDATE...

Minuteman® Bail Bonds, Inc. is once again alive and well. It was finally approved by the California Department of Insurance on January 21, 2009. It's license number is 1845054.

Car Thief Calls Bail Bond Agent for Bail After Stealing Agent's Car

2007-11-07T12:33:00.000-08:00

Funny things always seem to happen to people in the Bail Bond Business. John Yonan, a California licensed bail agent and owner of Minuteman Bail Bonds experienced this phenomenon first hand when his car was stolen.

Tracy, CA (PRWeb) January 26, 2007 -- John Yonan, a California licensed bail agent and owner of Minuteman Bail Bonds at www.minutemanbail.com, recently walked out to his driveway and discovered his late model, fire engine red Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T Turbo sports car was missing. He soon realized it had been stolen and called the local police (case #06-03804). The officer gathered information about the car, and Mr. Yonan was told that most stolen vehicles are recovered within a day or two. Sure enough, that same afternoon, the police called Mr. Yonan and informed him his car was recovered in Oakdale, CA about 45 miles away and that he could drive over to Oakdale and pick up his car.

The Oakdale police had the car towed to a local car dealer and after arriving at the dealer, Mr. Yonan inspected his vehicle. There was a lot of damage. Someone had quite a lot of fun speeding around in his car. There were dents, scratches, bald tires and he would soon realize the engine was rattling and may need to be replaced.

Mr. Yonan opened the door to the car and looked inside. The thief must have liked Cheetos Cheese Puffs because they were scattered throughout the cars interior. The glove box was open and the contents had been thrown on the passenger floor. Mr. Yonan sat down in the drivers seat and looked around for more damage. He then noticed a piece of paper on the passenger seat with writing on it. It was a letter. Mr. Yonan picked it up and could not believe what he read. The letter, presumably from the car thief, were instructions to his mother as to what the thief wanted her to do with his personal property when he began his prison sentence. The letter had names, phone numbers, a list of property, and the thief had signed it! Mr. Yonan immediately turned the letter over to the police detective in charge of this case.

The next day, the detective informed Mr. Yonan that the thief had been identified and was arrested. His prison term had not started yet and he was arrested at his home about two blocks from where the car was abandoned.

That afternoon, Mr. Yonan received a call at his bail bond business, Minuteman Bail Bonds. The caller identified himself and said he needed a bail bond. Mr. Yonan asked several questions and soon realized that he was talking to the thief that had stolen his car. Mr. Yonan said, "I told him I would not bail him out and he asked me why. I replied that it was my car that he had stolen...he did not respond for a long time...he then said 'oops' and hung up."

It's not always about the "bottom line" - It's about people!

2007-03-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

I recently bailed out a young lady on a couple of DUI's. She was in custody in Richmond, CA on two warrants out of Los Angeles county. I asked her fiance whether he had told his soon-to-be bride that he had arranged bail. He told me that she did not want to get bailed out because the bail premium was all of the money they had in the world and that they had been saving this money for their wedding in the fall. I asked several times whether he was sure that he wanted to bail out his fiance and he said "yes, I love her. I can't stand having her sit in jail." So I posted the bond and bailed her out.

When she was released, she was furious. She called me a lot of expletives and said I was a thief for stealing her wedding. She said she now could not afford a wedding dress, a wedding cake, flowers, a honeymoon...the list went on and on. To tell you the truth, I was not prepared for this response. Most people want to get out of jail! She wanted to go back in!

What started out bad just got worse...she refused to sign any of my paperwork, refused to have her photograph taken, refused to call in each week, and finally hinted that she may not show up for court!!! At this point, I had completely regreted posting this bond and somehow she had made me feel like I was a bad person for doing my job. I told her fiance (the co-signer) that he needed to make sure she made it to court in Los Angeles or he would end up owing a lot of money ($50,000.00). We then both left the jail.

As I drove home, I thought about the frustration and anxiety expressed by my new client. She was truly shattered. Not only had she been arrested, but now her life savings was sitting in a folder on the seat next to me...I remembered when I had gotten married (many, many years ago). My wife and I wanted a perfect wedding...one with a beautiful wedding dress, a cake, flowers, etc. It was then I realized I could give my client what she wanted, but it would not be easy!

I immediately plugged her address into my GPS and headed for her apartment. It was very late, but I figured she would not be sleeping yet. When I pulled up to her apartment, my client and her fiance were slowly walking across the parking lot. I pulled up and my client started yelling at me, saying things like "what are you, a stalker?" I immediately calmed them down when I told them I would give them their money back. There was only one catch...I would revoke the bond, but my client would then have to go back to jail. She immediately agreed.

There was another problem, though! The warrants were out of Los Angeles county. The Richmond, CA jail is over 500 miles north of L.A. county in Contra Costa county near San Fransicso. The Richmond jail would not allow me to return my client to their custody...I had to take her to Los Angeles county! At first, I thought "can I handle this lady all the way to Los Angeles? She was extremely angry when I bailed her out, will she be more rational during our trip to jail?" We arranged to travel to Los Angeles two days after her initial bail and I prepared all of the paperwork for her surrender. We met at my office, I gave them back the entire premium money, she said her goodbye's to her fiance and we began our journey down south.

As I drove, I made small talk. She was very cordial and pleasant...not the potty mouth from a couple of nights before! As it turns out, she is highly educated with a pleasing personality. She has lived through much adversity in her life and has overcome it. The recent DUI cases were a brief lapse in judgment and she no longer drinks and drives. She has been working hard to move forward in life. Her last "skeletons" in her closet were these DUI charges.

We arrived at the Los Angeles jail. Over the course of the drive (nearly five hours), I had gotten to know her and we had made a friendship connection. I did not want to have to surrender her, but there was no turning back now. I gingerly placed handcuffs on her and escorted her through security and into the jail booking area. It took about thirty minutes and the process was over. She had been searched and processed into the jail. I left my card and told her that if she had a significant bail reduction after court to call me because I was staying in Los Angeles for a few days...I could bail her out again and give her a ride back... That is almost what happened...I did bail her out on a significantly lower bail amount, but I had to utilize my California statewide bail network to post the bond because I had already left Los Angeles and was back in northern California. It took a very long time for her release because the Jail had incorrectly processed my original surrender paperwork, but after nearly 36 hours of jumping through hoops, she was released.

I now have a relatively happy client (no one would ever want to go through this type of experience). This just goes to show you, as my slogan says..."Sometimes bad things happen to good people!" I only hope that my client and her fiance have an awesome wedding (maybe they'll invite their bail agent, but I won't hold my breath).

Two sides to every story!

2007-03-09T14:14:00.000-08:00

As bail agents, we bail people out of jail that have been arrested for a wide variety of alleged crimes. I want to emphasize the operative word "alleged" because often times the media sensationalizes a story and only reports one side of the case (before a trial or any hard facts have been established). The public forms an opinion based on what they know and rarely considers any other possibilities.

Many of my clients have been in the news. I am able to see both sides of the story because my clients, their families and their friends feel compelled to elaborate about my clients' character, his/her contributions to family, friends and society in general.

I have found that in many cases, the police have thrown every possible charge at my clients just hoping some of them will stick...they often don't. On my website I have a slogan that reads "Bad things sometimes happen to good people!" This is generally the case with my clients.

So next time you listen to the news, read a paper or hear a radio news story, consider the possibility that there is another side to the story. A side that does not paint such a bad portrait of the accused...they might just be innocent!

John Yonan
Owner / Bail Agent - Minuteman Bail Bonds of California

Free Dog The Bounty Hunter!

2007-03-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you for visiting this "Free Dog The Bounty Hunter" information page. As a fellow bondsman, and a big fan of Dog's reality TV show, "Dog The Bounty Hunter" - I was compelled to share my thoughts on this subject.

I had the opportunity to meet and talk to Dog, his wife Beth, and the rest of Dog's team over the last two years at the PBUS (Professional Bail Agents of the United States) annual convention. Both Duane "Dog" Chapman and his wife Beth have attended as keynote speakers. Everyone enjoyed their stories and experiences. This year, however, Dog is facing a possible extradition to Mexico for a misdemeanor from an incident that happened nearly three years ago. This incident involved the capture of a convicted rapist in Mexico. A local Mexican police officer that was assisting Dog and his team in the search, demanded more money after the fugitive was found and arrested. The police officer, after being denied more money, allowed Dog and his team (son Leland and blood brother Tim) to be arrested for "deprivation of liberty" (a misdemeanor in Mexico). The convicted rapist (Andrew Luster - Max Factor heir) had been convicted in the United States in abstentia for 3 rapes and was sentenced to 124 years in prison. He was convicted in abstentia because he absconded to Mexico in the middle of his trial. It was alleged that Andrew Luster had perpetrated dozens of other rapes and sexual assaults on women that he had allegedly drugged and then had taken photos of these women!

Even though bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico, Dog had sought the assistance of a local police officer (as mentioned above) to aid in the search and capture (therefore, making it legal), and only after the officer demanded more money for his involvement did the officer distance himself from Dog and allow Dog and his team to be arrested and charged with this misdemeanor. After being released on bond, Dog and his team left Mexico and was told that the authorities would not pursue them beyond the borders of Mexico.

If Dog were not a famous TV star, this would have been the end of the story. But since he is famous, and his television program is very popular, the political influences began to manipulate the Mexican judicial system. In my experience, I have NEVER seen anyone extradited to another country on a misdemeanor! It is unheard of!

What is this telling the criminals that want to escape prosecution??? "Flee to Mexico, the land where criminals are welcome as long as they have money to spend!" These facts, and given the current position of the Mexican government about this matter, has only further damaged an existing reputation of a government that is running rampant with corruption. The decision of the Mexican government to attempt to extradite Dog, Leland and Tim clearly gives the wrong signal to the world. My questions is, why would any logical, rational and honest government want to portray their country as a haven for criminals?

I suggest that if you are as outraged as I am (and as most others I have spoken to)...contact your local congressman, senator or anyone else that will listen...Dog, Leland and Tim are not getting a fair shake!

John Yonan

Owner & Bail Agent - Minuteman Bail Bonds of California

Welcome...

2006-12-30T16:01:00.000-08:00

I would like to welcome you to the Minuteman Bail Bonds blog site for bail bond information. I will share some of the crazy situations I have been in as I build my bail bond business and provide information that will be critical when seeking a bail bond for yourself, a relative, or a friend.

I hope this blog is useful. I invite you to post questions about bail bonds, the bail bond industry, your experiences with bail and other bail agencies. Sometimes this business can be very funny, and sometimes it can be downright dangerous!

Let's explore this fascinating world together!

John Yonan
Owner - Minuteman Bail Bonds