Creating a Secure Password

Your password is the key to your accounts!

Considering just how important the "key" to your financial information is, we encourage you to make a strong password!

Meriwest Credit Union has strong measures to ensure the security and safety of your account and its overall online banking system. You can help us keep online banking extremely safe and secure. Stay alert to potential security threats and keep in mind the suggestions provided below.

With your password, someone could gain access to your accounts, transfer funds and steal your money.

Knowing how to make a strong and secure password can keep strangers out of your accounts! This short tutorial can teach your how to create a password that is easy to remember, yet complicated enough to foil most security attacks.

Follow the good practices listed below and you will enjoy the conveniences of online services with added peace of mind!

Password Requirements for Online Banking

Password must include a minimum of 8 characters in length, 1 digit (0-9), 1 special character and must be a maximum length of 32 characters long. The password cannot include leading or trailing blanks and must include one of the following special characters:

! @ # $ % * _ ( ) [ ]  { } | : ; ` , . / ?

Characters that cannot be used:

How to make a stronger, secure password

• Intersperse capitals with lower case letters
• Change your password at least every 90 days
• Do not use "password" - The word "password" is the most commonly used password
• Avoid using personal information -
  • Names of your spouse, child, relative, pet or alma mater
  • Telephone numbers and social security numbers
  • Cities and States, especially home towns
  • Home address
  • Work address
  • Vehicle License Plates
• Do not use a variation of a username or email account -
  • Username spelled backwards
  • Email address used for password
  • A number before or after the username
• Keep away from keyboard sequences -
  • qwerty
  • 123456
  • asdfg
• Avoid any word that can be found in a dictionary -
  • Password guessing programs use 30,000+ word dictionary lists as their first attempt

Need help choosing a password? Follow these five easy steps!

• Step 1: Choose a phrase. It can be your favorte quote or reference, but don't make it the quote on the calendar next to your desk.
  • Example phrase: "Security is a process, not a product"

• Step 2: Use the first letter of each word to make an acronym - it's an easy way to remember a random sequence of letters.
  • Example phrases' acronym: siapnap

• Step 3: Substitute number for letters. You can do some or all, but the following are the easiest to remember.
  • Example acronym changes to: s14pn4p

• Step 4: Capitalize all the consonants.
  • Example acronym changes to: S14PN4P

• Step 5: Make sure at least one symbol character is used. If no punctuation was inserted in step 4, add some symbol characters to your password.
  • Example acronym changes to: S14PN4P!