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I've literally noticed this myself last month when I went to temporarily lift my freeze to apply for a new credit card. I never got asked for the PIN, which I diligently save and securely store. I remember I was explicitly asked for it just a year ago (last time I had to do the same to open another card). I felt like an idiot.

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They don't want to make it hard to use your credit report. The worse job they do with security theater the more money they make, and the easier it is for you to obtain credit products. If they actually applied any reasonable security, the friction of getting new credit would reduce new customer acquisition.

For my view, that's ideal: people should put real, explicit thought into obtaining new credit or debt products. It's too easy right now, especially with products like Credit Karma trivializing getting new credit cards.

> They don't want to make it hard to use your credit report. The worse job they do with security theater the more money they make, and the easier it is for you to obtain credit products.

This is why we need to legislate these companies now, and re-incentivize them to do the right thing.

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