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A mobile-first billing experience designed to reduce confusion and build trust, cutting call center volume by 62% and helping users manage payments confidently, even in low-light or on-the-go environments.
Confusing payment flows were flooding the student loan call center with over 200+ support calls daily, mostly from users trying to complete basic mobile transactions. The legacy interface overwhelmed users with low contrast, outdated fonts, and unclear steps, leading to frequent input errors, late fees, and a growing trust gap.
Design a mobile payment experience so seamless, secure, and clear that users could complete payments in under a minute—without needing to call for help.
To get there, I designed around four key principles:
The original payment flow appeared to have only three steps, but each one contained multiple fields, decisions, and unclear branching logic.
I broke the flow down to its true task structure, then rebuilt it around a clean, progressive disclosure model:
The result? A flow that was truly simple—not just labeled that way.
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We layered in biometric login, one-time passwords, and session-limited encryption, all without interrupting flow.
Trust cues and success states gave users confidence without confusion.
Clear pending states, trustworthy copy, and real-time confirmation gave users confidence, especially during the 3–5 day ACH processing window.
We introduced dynamic inline error feedback, auto-scrolling to fields, and in-place corrections—without clearing prior data.
Combined with dark mode defaults (after field testing for low-light readability), this led to a measurable drop in form abandonment.
One of the biggest friction points was in the uncertainty after tapping "Submit."
Because ACH payments can take 3–5 days to process, users were left in limbo: Was it successful? Was I charged? Should I try again?
This confusion triggered a surge of “Did it go through?” support calls and led to duplicate payments.
We introduced a simple pending state with crystal-clear messaging:
This UX fix reduced support calls and restored user confidence during the most anxious moment in the flow.
This project highlighted that even simple financial tasks carry emotional weight.
Users weren’t just making payments, they were navigating stress, shame, and tight margins.
Our biggest wins came not from visual polish, but from designing for how people actually live: late nights, bad lighting, shaky Wi-Fi, high stakes.
That meant rethinking accessibility, layering clarity into security, and making recovery feel like support instead of punishment.
This wasn’t just a redesign. It was a shift toward building systems that earn trust one tap at a time.