Yes, Thank you Objee. I saw that shortly after posting my above response. I realized I might be missing something because I was already logged in. My pattern since December has been to go straight to the Application page. This is what I did because I falsely presumed I knew what I was doing.
Due to the fact that I was already logged in, and went straight to the application page, I bypassed full "Apply Now" login page with that message and never actually saw the instructions.
I suspected I was probably missing a step or some information. I tried it from a different browser, where I was of course logged out by default, and I saw the full Create Account / login page with the instructions.
I am squared way now, and started a new app.
Going through this whole process has certainly been teaching me to read the detailed instructions, even if I think I know them.