I pay every bill that enables me to do so online. I don’t like dealing with people over the phone, or worrying about whether or not the check I mailed will arrive on time. But in the last couple of years, instead of making this process easier, most companies seem to be complicating it.

I don’t know if my student loan lenders are testing something new, but both made me jump through additional hurdles over the weekend.

Normally when I log into Great Lakes, I’m prompted for my SSN, and that’s it, I’m logged in. I thought this was great, because that’s one log in I’ll never forget. Then when I choose to make a payment, I can enter a new form of payment, or the last four digits of the previous account used.

This time when I logged in, I was prompted to create an account name and password. Of course there’s some ridiculous character requirements prohibiting me from using the log in I use everywhere, you know, the one I can actually remember. But it doesn’t tell you these requirements until you try to save the information, so all the fields you filled out are blanked out and it’s like starting over again.

Next I logged into my Sallie Mae account, but instead of just letting me sign in I was required to complete several extra confirmation steps, including verifying my driver’s license number, the school I graduated from, my zip code, and my phone number.

I take issue with the phone number question. I have no problem providing my phone number, because they might need to call me at some point, but do not make this number a crucial piece of account information. I, like many people of my generation, do not have a landline. I could get one for free in a bundle from my cable service, but I have no use for one. Internet service and mobile is plenty for me. This means I am prone to changing numbers more often than someone with a landline. I’ve had to change my number twice in the last couple years, just because my old phone’s SIM card wasn’t compatible with my new phone. So as I’ve had this account for many years, how am I to remember which number they have on record?

Then comes the security question, but not just one security question, five of them. Five? I think it’s safe to say if I can’t remember the first one or two you should just email me new account information. It wasn’t even five sensible questions, they were things I would probably never remember.

What was the name of your childhood best friend? I don’t know, I had three, how can I pick? What’s the last name of your favorite author? I don’t know, I don’t have a favorite author. What’s the last name of your favorite teacher? I don’t know, I don’t think I ever had a favorite. What’s your favorite place to vacation? I have no idea, besides, couldn’t this change if I went on vacation someplace awesome? What was the name of your first school? I called it St. Joes, but it also goes by St. Josephs, do I really want to try and remember which of those I saved?

Stick with the easy to remember questions like your mother’s maiden name, your dad’s middle name, or your first pet. Or better yet, let me determine the security question. Don’t give me 10 just in case steps before I can get to my account. If I can’t seem to remember my information, just remember it for me, either email me my existing information, reset my information and email it to me, or provide a tech support phone number so I can create a new account over the phone.

Lastly I needed to pay my car insurance. I have Progressive, and normally I consider their online payment service to be the best. I type in my policy number (I normally don’t think a log in should require an account number, because you don’t always have that information with you, but I carry an insurance card at all times.) my birthday, and my zip code. It then remembers my payment information or I can create new payment information. This time, it required me to put in my payment information again. Not a big deal, maybe the information expires after so long. I put in my routing and checking numbers, and proceed to the next step. Then in a new form, I’m asked for my routing and checking numbers again. Wtf? This is the same account I pay with every month and you have to ask me for this information again not once but twice?

If you are a company who wants money from me, let me give it to you in the easiest way possible. If you require my social security number for my account, allow me to use that as my log in. If that’s not possible for security reasons, don’t require some ridiculous combination of numbers and letters to create a user name. I don’t see why my student loan accounts should need anything besides an SSN anyhow, what’s the worst that could happen if someone who isn’t me used this to log in? They pay off my student loan debt for me? I’d say if someone who isn’t me already has that information, securing my student loan accounts would probably be my last concern. Lastly, don’t require my account number, because if I’ve gone on vacation and forgot to pay my bill, I certainly am not going to have that account number with me.

Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 11:34 am | Leave A Comment | Comments Feed
Filed under: Web Design Tags: log ins, user experience, user interface