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When you’re arrested and accused of a crime in San Diego, you’ll usually be given two options before your trial. The first is to stay in jail until the trial itself, while the other is to post bail, which can be the more appealing option.

If it’s your first time, then you could have quite a few questions. The first is how much of the bond you’ll have to pay, even if you hire a bail bondsman. Exactly what percentage of a bond do you pay in San Diego?

Thankfully, the percentage can be relatively minimal, but there are more than a few things you could need to know about.

Bond Payment Percentage

First it’s worth diving into what percentage of a bond do you need to pay in San Diego. In most cases, this is 10%, but this can depend on the bail bondsman you’re working with. Some of them could charge more than others. See this as the average, and you’ll likely end up just needing to pay that.

Factors Affecting Bond Payment

As much as the bail bondsman could set their own rates, there are multiple factors that can affect this decision. It’s worth being aware of these, as they could have a dramatic impact on how much of a bond you’ll have to pay.

The most notable of these are:

  • Severity Of The Crime - The more serious a crime is, the higher your bond will be. That’ll naturally mean 10% of it will be higher. A bond for petty theft, for example, will be much lower than a bond for murder. The exact bond will vary drastically depending on the crime.
  • Your Criminal History - If you have an extensive criminal history, then be prepared to receive a higher bond for what you’re accused of. It’ll be much higher for longer criminal histories compared to someone with no criminal history.
  • Defendant’s Flight Risk - If the justice system believes a defendant will be a flight risk, then they’ll set a much higher bond than someone who isn’t a flight risk. This reduces the chances they’ll try to escape from the trial and run somewhere else. A bond is supposed to be a deterrent for this, after all.

These could increase the amount you’ll have to pay toward a bond a lot more than you’d think. Make sure you’re aware of them before getting in contact with a bail bondsman. The process will go much easier than you’d think.

Exploring Different Bond Payment Options

When you do decide to get in contact with a bail bondsman, it’s worth making sure you work with the best. At San Diego Bail Bonds, that’s exactly what we are. We don’t just post the bond for you. We go above and beyond for you.

As experienced professionals, we go out of our way to help you find the support and guidance you need during the bond process. If you’ve been arrested, give us a call today to get everything started. We’ll have you out on bail as fast as possible.