I saw this post about freezing your credit a few years ago, and I have referred back to it from time to time ever since. What follows is basically a summary of that article.
tl;dr recommendations:
Freeze the credit of everyone in your home for free (and forget about the stuff the credit bureaus are trying to sell to you). Notify a company called ChexSystems to keep an eye out for fraud committed in your name here. Opt out of pre-approved credit offers. You can do this for five years or permanently. (Why wouldn’t we all opt out permanently? I can’t think of a reason not to.
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