In the 80's it was even worse. A credit bureau was available on telenet (a simple dial up service that allowed terminal connections to services) and there was

In the 80's it was even worse. A credit bureau was available on telenet (a simple dial up service that allowed terminal connections to services) and there was no password, just an account number. You could query any social security number and see joint account information by simply adding /ty-jp or something similar. This being the 80's, you'd see the needed credentials taped to monitors.