Request collateral

When a bail is large and you doubt the co-signer can stand behind it, you can ask for collateral: one amount of cash for the whole posting, which your agency holds until the bail is over. The co-signer pays it before you approve, the posting can't be approved until it's held, and you record by hand when it goes back to the family or when you keep it.

Collateral is not a fee and not part of the Amount due. It's never charged in installments, and it's never counted as Collected. Its return is governed by the indemnification contract your documents carry, not by your refund policy.

Before you startCopy Anchor Link

• You can edit the posting. Only the posting's assigned agent or an agency admin sees the Collateral card's actions.
• The posting is Reviewing. You can request, edit or withdraw collateral only while the posting is Reviewing. A posting that's waiting on the co-signer (Awaiting Info, Awaiting Co-signer) or has their answers back (Review New Info) can still have its collateral paid and recorded, but not changed. The one exception is a card payment that's waiting on you (see Settle a card payment of a different amount): you can withdraw the request in those statuses too.
• Each posting has one request at a time. One amount covers every bond on the posting, whether it came from web intake or you typed it in. After you withdraw a request, you can ask again, but only while the posting is Reviewing.
• There's nothing to set up. Every agent can request collateral case by case, with no setting to turn on.

Request collateralCopy Anchor Link

What happens nextCopy Anchor Link

• The primary co-signer is told by text or email, on the contact they verified, that collateral was requested and how much.
• The posting's status doesn't change. It stays Reviewing, so you can keep adding bonds, requesting co-signers and requesting information while the family gathers the money.
• The posting can't be approved yet. Approve is hidden while collateral is requested and unpaid, and the status card says The posting can be approved once the collateral is held. If a stale page tries anyway, Vonda refuses with The collateral hasn't been paid yet. Approve once it is held, or withdraw the request.
• The posting's card on the Dashboard shows a Collateral pending mark. It goes away once the collateral is held, or if you withdraw the request.
• The request is recorded in the Activity log.

Edit or withdraw a requestCopy Anchor Link

While the posting is Reviewing and the collateral is unpaid, the card shows Edit and Withdraw.

• To change the amount or the note, click Edit, change them in Edit Collateral and click Save. The primary co-signer is told the new amount, so they don't pay the wrong figure.
• To drop the request, click Withdraw, then Withdraw in Withdraw collateral request?. The request is withdrawn, the co-signer is told, and the posting can be approved without collateral. The card goes back to Request Collateral, so you can ask again while the posting is Reviewing. The Activity log keeps the history.

You can't edit or withdraw once a payment of the collateral is processing, or once it's held. When Kurv took a different amount than you requested, you can withdraw (in any status where collateral can still be paid) but not edit; see Settle a card payment of a different amount.

How the co-signer paysCopy Anchor Link

Only the primary co-signer can pay collateral. They can pay it while the posting is Reviewing, Awaiting Info, Awaiting Co-signer or Review New Info, so a separate request from you doesn't hold them up. On their bail page, Pay the collateral appears above the rest of the page. It shows only the collateral amount, because the premium stays hidden until you approve, and it explains that collateral is not a fee: your agency holds it until the bail is over and returns it under the indemnification contract.

Other co-signers see a Collateral requested notice saying that only the primary co-signer can pay it.

While collateral is requested and unpaid, the page leaves out the Reviewing your information card, since there is something to do first. A card that asks the co-signer for something, like the invite for another co-signer or the form for more information, stays below it.

With online paymentsCopy Anchor Link

If your agency has connected Kurv, the primary co-signer clicks Pay collateral and pays by card on Kurv's checkout page. It's their only way to pay, as with the amount due. The card then shows Processing until Kurv reports the result:

• If the payment goes through, the collateral becomes held on its own. You confirm nothing.
• If Kurv takes a different amount than you requested, more or less, Vonda records the money as received but doesn't mark the collateral held. It stays Requested, the posting still can't be approved, and you're told both amounts. The co-signer's page says Payment received with the amount Kurv took, and that you're confirming it, so they don't pay twice. See Settle a card payment of a different amount.
• If it's declined, the collateral stays requested. The co-signer's page says Your card payment didn't go through with Kurv's reason, and they can click Pay collateral again.
• If the co-signer leaves Kurv's page without paying, their bail page shows Return to payment while the checkout is still open, and it takes them back to the same checkout.
• If the co-signer never finishes, the checkout is closed after it expires, and the collateral goes back to Requested.

The posting's status never shows Processing Payment for collateral. To stop a card payment that's stuck, click Cancel Payment on the Collateral card, then Confirm in Cancel this card payment?. Vonda asks Kurv to close the checkout, and the collateral goes back to Requested, so the co-signer can pay again or you can record it. If Kurv says the payment already went through, or Kurv can't be reached, the checkout stays open and Vonda tells you why. Only the posting's assigned agent or an agency admin sees Cancel Payment.

Settle a card payment of a different amountCopy Anchor Link

When Kurv took a different amount than you requested, the Collateral card says Kurv took $2,000 against a $2,500 request, with the real figures. Until you settle it, the co-signer can't pay the collateral again, nobody can record another payment of it, and you can't edit the amount. You have two ways out:

• To keep what Kurv took as the collateral, click Accept as held, then Accept in the confirmation. The request changes to the amount Kurv took and the collateral is held, exactly as if it had been paid in full: the receipt is created, the primary co-signer is told, and you can Approve. The Activity log records both amounts.
• To drop the request, click Withdraw. It's available while the posting is Reviewing, and also while it's Awaiting Info, Awaiting Co-signer or Review New Info, since a payment is waiting on you. The payment stays recorded as received, so settle it with the co-signer outside Vonda, for example by refunding it. You can request collateral again only while the posting is Reviewing. In any other status, settle the payment with the co-signer outside Vonda, then approve without collateral once the posting can be approved (Approve is offered in Reviewing and Review New Info), or close the posting.

Only the posting's assigned agent or an agency admin sees Accept as held.

When Kurv took more than one paymentCopy Anchor Link

If you cancelled a checkout and the co-signer paid it anyway, then did the same again, Kurv can take several payments against one request. The Collateral card then says Kurv took 2 payments against a $2,500 request and lists every payment with its amount and date. Accept as held isn't offered, because there is no single amount to hold. Click Withdraw, in Reviewing or in any status where the collateral can still be paid, and settle all the payments with the co-signer outside Vonda, for example by refunding them. You can request collateral again only while the posting is Reviewing. In any other status, approve without collateral once the posting can be approved (Reviewing or Review New Info), or close the posting. The co-signer's page says Payment received with the total Kurv took.

If Kurv reports a card payment but its confirmation still hasn't arrived an hour after the checkout expired, the card shows Received and Not received, and you settle it the way Follow or cancel an online payment describes.

If a card payment reaches Kurv after its checkout was closed, because you cancelled it or withdrew the request, or after the posting was closed or archived, Vonda still records the money as received and tells you, so you can sort it out with the co-signer. It never makes a withdrawn request held, or collateral held on a closed or archived posting.

Without online paymentsCopy Anchor Link

The co-signer follows your agency's payment instructions, then on Pay the collateral uploads a receipt, adds an optional note and clicks Submit Payment Proof. The card changes to Processing, their page says Collateral payment submitted, and the assigned agent is told a payment was reported and needs review.

On your side, the proof appears on the Collateral card:

After a rejection the co-signer is told by text or email, with your reason if you gave one. Their page shows Resubmit your collateral proof with a Collateral proof not accepted notice, which carries your reason, or asks them to send another proof if you didn't give one. They upload a new proof with Resubmit Payment Proof, and you're told about it.

Record collateral taken in personCopy Anchor Link

If the co-signer hands you cash, a check or a transfer at the office, click Record Payment on the Collateral card. In Record Collateral, the amount is the requested collateral and can't be changed. Type how it came in under Payment Method, add Notes and an optional receipt, and click Record Collateral. It's the same dialog as Record an in-person payment, for collateral. Like the amount due, it can't be undone.

You can't record collateral while a payment of it is processing, or while a card payment of a different amount waits for you to settle it.

When the collateral is heldCopy Anchor Link

Whether it was paid online, confirmed from a proof, accepted at the amount Kurv took or recorded by you, the result is the same:

• The card shows Held with a green badge, and the Collateral pending mark leaves the Dashboard.
• A Collateral receipt is created and filed on the Collateral card. See Find a payment's receipt and proof.
• The primary co-signer is told that the collateral was received, with the receipt attached to the email. It's also on their bail page under Collateral.
• The posting's status still doesn't move. Collateral never advances a posting. You can now Approve, and the posting continues exactly as it does without collateral. See Price and approve a posting.
• It counts in Reports as Collateral held, and in the Postings list under Holding collateral. See Read your reports.

If you close the posting while the collateral is unpaid, the request lapses: nothing is owed and the co-signer's page shows nothing about it. If you reopen the posting, the request is payable again. Closing and archiving are blocked while a collateral payment is processing. See Close or reopen a posting and Archive or unarchive a posting.

Return or forfeit held collateralCopy Anchor Link

When the bail is over, usually at exoneration, you record what became of the money. You can do it any time once the collateral is held, whatever the posting's status, even after it's closed or archived. Vonda moves no money. You hand it back or keep it yourself, then record it here.

Mark it returnedCopy Anchor Link

The card shows Returned with the date and method, and the primary co-signer is told the collateral was returned. Your note isn't part of that message.

Mark it forfeitedCopy Anchor Link

If your agency kept the collateral to cover a loss, click Mark forfeited. In Mark Collateral Forfeited, write the Note, the reason you kept it, such as Covered the failed appearance. It's required. Then click Mark forfeited. The card shows Forfeited. Nobody is told.

If you deduct part of the collateral, record it as returned or forfeited in full and write the deduction in the note. Collateral is returned or forfeited as a whole.

Either way, the posting leaves Holding collateral and Collateral held, and the act is recorded in the Activity log. It can't be undone.

What it never doesCopy Anchor Link

• It never counts as Collected. Collateral isn't in the Dashboard's money tiles, the collections trend or a person's Total paid.
• It never joins the Amount due. The invoice, the fees and any payment plan stay as they are.
• It never moves the posting. The status is the same with or without collateral.