Ask Me Help Desk - Surety bonds available to ex-felons

Quote:

Originally Posted by kshah

I consider surety bonding of felons to be an ethical issue.

Are there bonding agencies in California that provide bonds for ex-felons? The bond would allow the person to serve as a payee or other type of fiscal agent.

Can you give us more details of what govt or private entity is requiring a bond? Underwriting surety bonds requires that the underwriter look at financial strength, (assets VS liabilities etc) and credit worthiness. Also there is a moral hazard that is considered such as criminal background. Some surety bonds are freely written i.e. the last 3 or 4 I have issued required no underwriting, principal simply pays premium and bond is released to principal for filing with the obligee (Govt or private entity requiring the bond). Each bond has it's own pecularilities and basically underwriting the risks involves knowing the nature of the risk and if necessary, certain info about your principal (the person or business entity being bonded. You mentioned "payee" and "fiscal agent" and this brings to mind one well known company which I will not mention here that required a surety bond of those individuals / companies that accepted monies for delivery/pick up by another person in a distant location. That company only required bonds of those who wanted to act as "payee", "fiscal agent" who had derogatory credit histories. Therefore, I, the underwriter would always be faced with "adverse selection" and consequently I rejedted all requests for this particular bond not wanting to select risks from those who only had bad credit histories. Hope this helps you provide more info/ or ask other questions.