Top Tips for Protecting Your Financial Accounts
Nov 14, 2025
When it comes to the safety of your financial accounts, your password is the first line of defense against hackers and fraudsters. We are committed to ensuring our security and fraud detection systems are up to date with the latest technology – but if someone gets your password, they get access to your account.
Thankfully, we have a few easy steps you can take to create hacker-proof passwords and further protect your accounts from unauthorized access.
Create a Strong Password
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to change your password every three months. However, researchers at an online fraud prevention company found that 72% of consumers in 2022 were still using passwords that had been exposed in data breaches!
If your credentials have been exposed, it’s been a few years, or you catch yourself relying on bad password habits, it’s time to change your password. A strong password doesn’t have to be difficult for you in order to be difficult for hackers. Check out these quick tips:
DO
- Make them longer. The longer the better, but if you aim for 12-16 characters long, you’ve likely created a password that can’t be brute forced.
- Utilize a passphrase. A passphrase can be much easier to remember than a password and is often longer by nature. A passphrase can be anything, such as “I take tea at two-thirty”. Throw in some numbers and symbols, and you’re even better off – for example, our sample phrase could become “1takeTEA@230!”.
- Use a unique password for each financial account. It may feel like a hassle to remember them all, but this way if one account is compromised, your other accounts are still safe. Don’t worry – we also have some tips below to help you manage your passwords!
DO NOT
- Use repeating numbers or letters. A long password loses effectiveness the more repetition you have. “123123123123123” is still not a strong password.
- Base your password off of easily guessed personal information. Birthdays, pet names, your favorite sports team – if it can be easily gleaned from your social media or a few innocuous questions, it can be easily guessed.
- Record your passwords in an unsecure place. A sticky note on your desk or an unprotected document on your computer or phone can give the wrong person easy access to your accounts.
Use a Password Manager
Many internet browsers have password managers built in, but there are also a number of free and low-cost third-party password managers out there as well. They keep your information protected with strong encryption and can help you notice when you’re on a fraudulent site that’s mimicking a legitimate one.
A password manager has two key benefits. For one, it can remember your credentials for you and sync them across your devices. That way, you usually only have to remember one password – the one to your password manager.
For two, password managers can also randomly generate secure passwords for you, relieving you of the pressure to come up with them on your own.
Of course, if you prefer more old-school tactics, something like a password journal in which you write down your credentials can still work – just be sure to store it in a safe, secure place.
Enable Multifactor Authentication
Multifactor authentication (MFA), also known as two-factor authentication (2FA), requires you to enter a code in addition to your password when logging in to your account. You might get a code texted or emailed to you, or you may have to enter a code from an app downloaded to your smartphone. For many sites and services, setting up MFA is still only optional, so you may have to manually turn it on.
It may slow you down a little bit at login, but the benefits are worth it – if a hacker manages to crack your password, they’d still need that other code to actually gain access to your accounts.
No matter what, you should practice the same habits with your MFA codes as you do with your passwords – in other words, never share them with anyone. If you receive a prompt that you didn’t initiate, that’s likely a sign your password has been compromised, and you need to change it.
Keeping your Honda FCU accounts safe from hackers takes two. Use these tips to help you create a strong password that is secure and protected!
As a reminder, we will NEVER ask you for your password or your MFA code.
Links:
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics-computers/password-managers/
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/digital-security/tips-for-better-passwords-a3656305306/
