Donald Trump reportedly used a bail bondsman after being arrested at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, paying $20,000 of his bond set at $200,000 and taking out a loan for the rest of it. The fact that the former president resorted to such a measure has sparked questions on social media about the state of his finances.

  • IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    40
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    Wow can’t believe Newsweek didn’t even do their due diligence. A bail bond is not a loan. You pay a bondsman 10% and then the bail bondsman guarantees the court that you will show up on the court date. If you fail to show up the bondsman has to pay the court the full amount.

    • blattrules@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      45
      ·
      1 year ago

      I think the point is that he paid the 10% rather than front the $200k out of his own pocket. The 10% he doesn’t get back since he used a bail bondsman, but he would have gotten the full $200k back when he showed up in court had he used his own money.

      • lagomorphlecture@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        1 year ago

        So either he’s gonna need that 200k in Russia and won’t be getting it back because he won’t be showing up in court, he doesn’t care about a 20k deposit and doesn’t mind losing it, or he doesn’t have enough money to pay the 200k and needed a better deal. I’m betting on option 3 but option 1 is a possibility.

      • obviouspornalt@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I’m wondering if his entire life just runs on lines of credit and he never really has any cash on hand. If that’s the case, he’s such a poor credit risk, he might be paying close to 10% interest on his credit anyway, so a bond that he only has to pay 10% on and might last more than a year may actually save him money if he would have had to draw on a line of credit for the $200K.