In Minnesota, all bail bond companies must be contracted with, and financially backed by, a surety company. A surety company is an insurer that issues Powers Of Attorney to the bail bond companies that they contract with, and these Powers of Attorney must be attached to a bail bond when it is posted to secure the release of a defendant from jail. That being said, effective January 1, 2016, the Minnesota Department of Commerce, which oversees the insurance and bail bond industries, issued a Consent Order. This Consent Order laid out several rules that all surety and bail bond companies must follow. One of these rules was that the surety companies must file the percentage (rate) that the bail bond companies they are associated with are going to charge for a bail bond. These rates had to be approved by the Department of Commerce, and the only rate that was approved was ten percent (10%).
