Hi @ruggb,
A factory reset will reset the phone but it doesn't clear the password entirely.
If the phone has a Google account tied to it you still need to know the account ID and password to access the phone after a factory reset or know how to bypass the FRP lock (factory reset protection) that has been enabled in the phone by the reset to enable you to setup the phone again after the reset has been done. You only get so far into the setup procedure and no further as it asks for this information
FRP lock is a security feature in Android OS 5.1 and higher versions in case a phone was lost or stolen so that it couldn't be used again or onsold by simply resetting the phone back to its factory default condition as could be done with earlier versions of the OS