Credit Scores

Tapxe said
I'd add, that you can also stop your credit from being abused by sending a fraud alert letter to the agencies. Pretty sure it's all online and easy to do now compared to when my mail was stolen and I had to do it all by post. Basically, you alert the credit agencies that you don't want any new credit without them checking with you. You get a pin or they can ask you questions but anyone running a credit check won't get scores unless the agency verifies your info to approve.

Yeah, I looked into it a while back, and it's called freezing your credit. There used to be a charge for it, but it looks like it's now a free service, but you do have to contact each bureau individually. Just have to remember to unfreeze it before applying for a credit card or loan.

[ETA] - I went through and froze my credit tonight with all three bureaus. Took maybe 5-10 minutes total for all of them combined. Easy Peasy.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-to-freeze-credit