The Future Is Nigh

The National Student Loans Services Centre (NSLSC) and the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) in Canada are a bit strange on the web. They're migrating like much of the world to more electronic, web-based services. I think these types of services are amazing when done well and done right. Very often, you see them done poorly. Apparently, one of my banks won an award once for their sites' usability, but it and another have always been painful for me to use. In contrast, the bank I use in New Zealand has an amazing website. It's like they considered contracting out to a normal firm that could be relied upon to be well-versed in creating terrible websites, but instead they let the geek on floor 12 do it. Business-class professionals create some of the worst websites you'll ever use. Especially for banks.

The NSLSC and OSAP websites aren't horrible like some (all?) Canadian bank websites. They're not quite as amazing as at least the one NZ bank website. They're more "in transition", and that's the weird part.

To modify the terms of my repayment, I can go online and ... generate a PDF with my new repayment terms on it, which I then need to print and mail or fax to them... what? Why can I not simply change them online? Is it this fetish with inked signatures that the world still carries? I have a tablet PC, you see. I once signed an important document digitally and returned a "scanned" version of it, though I never actually printed it. Instead, e-mail attachment -> PDF -> PNG -> PDF -> e-mail attachment. The receiver was alright with it, though it was unusual. A small glimpse of That Better Time.

And likewise, I had recently made an application for a loan via OSAP which I had to cancel to-day (due to cost-cutting measures undergone by the NZ government). You can usually cancel applications in progress from the web UI, but once submitted, you now have to telephone them to do so. I'm not quite sure the reason, why. After sitting through over a minute of menus (one of the phone's many failings (note: the web and phone will merge at some point)) and about 3 minutes of hold muzak, I spoke for 20 seconds with a lady.

Me: "I'd like to cancel a loan application."
Her: "What is your name and date of birth?"
Me: "<insert relatively public information here>"
Her: "For <insert University name here>"
Me: "Yes."
Her: "Alright, you should see the change online in the next couple of days."
Me: "Thank you.  Good bye."

What was the reason this? Is it just so I can confirm some relatively public information? Is it a small degree of reduced liability or that courteous "thank you" at the end that makes them sleep better at night?

So, it's almost there. Now, if only universities, governments, and student assistance programmes didn't also didn't form a cyclic graph sometimes. I'm sure things get better, despite the porcupines.