Space Truck

I know that when you go into a bank or a mortgage broker to apply for a loan they ask you for a whole stack of documents to prove not only that you are who you say you are, but also to verify your income and your place of residence and so on and so forth. So how does that work with free instant credit reports? I mean since you’re doing everything online, how do they verify your identity and make sure that they’re not giving out sensitive information to an identity thief, or someone else who’s out to commit a crime?