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FAMILY FARMThe family farm is avanishing breed in theUnited States. How is afamily farmer defined forbankruptcy purposes?Chapter 13 bankruptcy permits an individual debtor to develop arepayment plan. During the period of repayment—usually three years—creditors may not continue collection activities.Exemptions As part of the “fresh start” policy of the BankruptcyAct, some assets can be kept by the debtor. These so-called exemptionscan be doubled for married couples filing jointly. Debtors can elect touse either their own state exemptions or the federal ones. The followingfederal exemption amounts were in effect in 2004, but they are subjectto adjustment in the future.Credit Card SecurityCases of theft and fraud on the Internet are on the rise. As a result, creditcard companies are working with online merchants to improve security. Thesecompanies have Web sites that help merchants review and improve theirsecurity policies. With this help from credit card companies, merchants areable to meet industry standards for protecting against online fraud and theft.Making payment methods more private is one way credit card companies aretrying to improve security. Improved security can be achieved by requiringadditional forms of user identification. Ideally, a user fingerprint will protecta customer’s identity. (Source: InternetWeek, October 13, 2000)Connect Visit the Web sites of several major credit card companies, and checktheir online security policies.498 Unit 5: Using Your Purchasing Power