Recognizing the need for a reliable bail agency management program which has sufficient technical support and financial backing, American Surety Company joined forces with two other industry leading surety companies to develop what is now known as the BARS Network. Since first rolling out BARS at the CBAA 2001 Fall Meeting in South Lake Tahoe, American Surety has received a tremendous response from its agents who have subscribed to BARS.

BARS is an internet-based application specifically designed for the bail agent to effectively manage their entire book of business, specifically power control, client records, agent commissions, forfeitures, accounts receivable, surety reports etc. BARS is the first bail application to be entirely maintained on the Internet, allowing its subscribers to access their account from any Internet accessible computer.

Agents have been particularly pleased with the ability to receive their power inventory electronically. At the time powers the surety issues replacement powers, the corresponding power numbers are distributed directly to that agents BARS account, eliminating the need for the bail agent to key those same powers to the bail program upon receipt, saving time and money.

Following are some other key features of the BARS Network:

Inventory Reassignment in the Bond/Power Module was created to effectively and easily issue and track powers being assigned to subagents and employees. Reports were created to generate listings of powers assigned to an agent's employees either individually or as a group.

Quick Write was created to streamline the data entry of each bond being written. This graphic interface allows the user to enter information on the defendant, cosigner, collateral and bond at one location. Once processed, the data is then dispersed to create separate files for each category where additional data can then be entered.

Accounts Receivable - The need to extend credit has become commonplace in nearly every market in the country. BARS subscribers expressed an urgent need to have an effective user-friendly way to track their receivables. The BARS development team spent many hours developing an A/R module, which addressed the needs of the bail agents. The result was a comprehensive yet sensible extension to BARS, which will compliment the bail agent's efforts to collect their receivables, and with the BARS' internal user access limitations will also reduce employee theft. Most importantly the detailed tracking of accounts receivables through BARS A/R Module will increase your agency's profitability, and that's the bottom line.

Batch Entry Reporting Procedure - For those agents, who wish only to use BARS for the express purpose of generating their surety report, the Batch Entry reporting procedure is just for you. In literally minutes you can process a large number of executed bonds into a Batch Entry spreadsheet before generating a surety report.

Historical Data Capture - Efforts are underway to make it possible for existing American Surety agents subscribing to BARS to receive data regularly maintained by ASC. ASC will have the ability to transfer all historical data to your BARS account. The information would be limited to data appearing on a standard bond execution report.

Contact BARS directly for more information about how to become a subscriber:

888.224.6431
www.barsnetwork.com