Using passwords as single factor of authentication is complicated, inefficient, insecure; and for corporations, they are also expensive because of all the calls to the helpdesk they generate.
A solution for you is using an OTP (one-time password) as a 2nd factor of authentication. Since your authentication is a lot more secure with an OTP, you probably don't need to use such complex passwords anymore.
For example, you can enable the 2-factor authentication with OTP with Google and Bank Of America. With Google, you can either request an OTP by SMS when you are authenticating and/or provision the Google Authenticator mobile application which will generate OTPs for you. For Bank Of America, you can also get OTPs by SMS. They also provide an OTP card called the SafePass card (http://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/cf/safepass_card_popup....) to generate the OTPs.
"Speaking of usernames, i've run into more than one bank that requires a digit in your username. A digit. In. Your. Username." --> It cost me so much trouble with my BOA online account! I found out I could actually change my username and it made things a lot easier!
> "Speaking of usernames, i've run into more than one bank that requires a digit in your username. A digit. In. Your. Username."
This makes sense, as your credential set includes both username and password - enforcing increased diversity in character selection in username to include numerics increases the exponent by 10 for each character.
I do not consider a username to be a secret information. But even if it was secret, having complex username just make thing complicated. And when it is too complicated, your users tend not to use your service at all.
A solution for you is using an OTP (one-time password) as a 2nd factor of authentication. Since your authentication is a lot more secure with an OTP, you probably don't need to use such complex passwords anymore.
For example, you can enable the 2-factor authentication with OTP with Google and Bank Of America. With Google, you can either request an OTP by SMS when you are authenticating and/or provision the Google Authenticator mobile application which will generate OTPs for you. For Bank Of America, you can also get OTPs by SMS. They also provide an OTP card called the SafePass card (http://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/cf/safepass_card_popup....) to generate the OTPs.
"Speaking of usernames, i've run into more than one bank that requires a digit in your username. A digit. In. Your. Username." --> It cost me so much trouble with my BOA online account! I found out I could actually change my username and it made things a lot easier!