diff --git a/src/main/java/io/r2dbc/postgresql/authentication/SASLAuthenticationHandler.java b/src/main/java/io/r2dbc/postgresql/authentication/SASLAuthenticationHandler.java
index 0ca21ac9..653f0382 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/r2dbc/postgresql/authentication/SASLAuthenticationHandler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/r2dbc/postgresql/authentication/SASLAuthenticationHandler.java
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package io.r2dbc.postgresql.authentication;
 
 import com.ongres.scram.client.ScramClient;
-import com.ongres.scram.common.StringPreparation;
 import com.ongres.scram.common.exception.ScramException;
 import com.ongres.scram.common.util.TlsServerEndpoint;
 import io.r2dbc.postgresql.client.ConnectionContext;
@@ -25,6 +24,9 @@
 import java.security.cert.CertificateException;
 import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;
 
+import static com.ongres.scram.common.StringPreparation.POSTGRESQL_PREPARATION;
+import static com.ongres.scram.common.util.TlsServerEndpoint.TLS_SERVER_END_POINT;
+
 public class SASLAuthenticationHandler implements AuthenticationHandler {
 
     private static final Logger LOG = Loggers.getLogger(SASLAuthenticationHandler.class);
@@ -82,22 +84,16 @@ public FrontendMessage handle(AuthenticationMessage message) {
     }
 
     private FrontendMessage handleAuthenticationSASL(AuthenticationSASL message) {
-
-        char[] password = new char[this.password.length()];
-        for (int i = 0; i < password.length; i++) {
-            password[i] = this.password.charAt(i);
-        }
-
         ScramClient.FinalBuildStage builder = ScramClient.builder()
             .advertisedMechanisms(message.getAuthenticationMechanisms())
             .username(this.username) // ignored by the server, use startup message
-            .password(password)
-            .stringPreparation(StringPreparation.POSTGRESQL_PREPARATION);
+            .password(password.toString().toCharArray())
+            .stringPreparation(POSTGRESQL_PREPARATION);
 
         SSLSession sslSession = this.context.getSslSession();
 
         if (sslSession != null && sslSession.isValid()) {
-            builder.channelBinding(TlsServerEndpoint.TLS_SERVER_END_POINT, extractSslEndpoint(sslSession));
+            builder.channelBinding(TLS_SERVER_END_POINT, extractSslEndpoint(sslSession));
         }
 
         this.scramClient = builder.build();
@@ -107,14 +103,9 @@ private FrontendMessage handleAuthenticationSASL(AuthenticationSASL message) {
 
     private static byte[] extractSslEndpoint(SSLSession sslSession) {
         try {
-            Certificate[] certificates = sslSession.getPeerCertificates();
-            if (certificates != null && certificates.length > 0) {
-                Certificate peerCert = certificates[0]; // First certificate is the peer's certificate
-                if (peerCert instanceof X509Certificate) {
-                    X509Certificate cert = (X509Certificate) peerCert;
-                    return TlsServerEndpoint.getChannelBindingData(cert);
-
-                }
+            Certificate[] certificates = sslSession.getPeerCertificates(); // First certificate is the peer's certificate
+            if (certificates != null && certificates.length > 0 && certificates[0] instanceof X509Certificate ) {
+                return TlsServerEndpoint.getChannelBindingData((X509Certificate) certificates[0]);
             }
         } catch (CertificateException | SSLException e) {
             LOG.debug("Cannot extract X509Certificate from SSL session", e);
@@ -125,7 +116,6 @@ private static byte[] extractSslEndpoint(SSLSession sslSession) {
     private FrontendMessage handleAuthenticationSASLContinue(AuthenticationSASLContinue message) {
         try {
             this.scramClient.serverFirstMessage(ByteBufferUtils.decode(message.getData()));
-
             return new SASLResponse(ByteBufferUtils.encode(this.scramClient.clientFinalMessage().toString()));
         } catch (ScramException e) {
             throw Exceptions.propagate(e);
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/r2dbc/postgresql/PostgresqlConnectionFactoryUnitTests.java b/src/test/java/io/r2dbc/postgresql/PostgresqlConnectionFactoryUnitTests.java
index cb6db4f2..a52384e1 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/r2dbc/postgresql/PostgresqlConnectionFactoryUnitTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/r2dbc/postgresql/PostgresqlConnectionFactoryUnitTests.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 
 import java.util.Collections;
 
+import static com.ongres.scram.common.StringPreparation.POSTGRESQL_PREPARATION;
 import static io.r2dbc.postgresql.util.TestByteBufAllocator.TEST;
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatIllegalArgumentException;
@@ -85,6 +86,7 @@ void createAuthenticationSASL() {
             .advertisedMechanisms(Collections.singletonList("SCRAM-SHA-256"))
             .username("test-username")
             .password("test-password".toCharArray())
+            .stringPreparation(POSTGRESQL_PREPARATION)
             .build();
 
         // @formatter:off
@@ -103,6 +105,12 @@ void createAuthenticationSASL() {
             .username("test-username")
             .password("test-password")
             .build();
+
+        new PostgresqlConnectionFactory(testClientFactory(client, configuration), configuration)
+            .create()
+            .as(StepVerifier::create)
+            .expectNextCount(1)
+            .verifyComplete();
     }
 
     @Test