Bank of Ireland Life and Eagle Star Life - easy PRSAs?

— Published September 1st, 2003  |  by David Moore

With the September 15th employers' deadline looming, many people's thoughts are turning to Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs), so this month we look at how two companies are covering the issue on their websites.

Bank of Ireland Life [http://www.bankofirelandlife.com] have adopted something of a 'brochureware' approach. Their homepage is largely devoted to the mechanics of registering for the site (not the best use of prime real estate) but when you find your way to the first PRSA page, you see large graphics and little explanatory text.

Delve deeper, however, and there is a large amount of information presented in a web-friendly format. The copy is a little marketing-heavy ('In a nutshell, it's pensions made easy!'), and the odd typo detracts from the credibility, but what's really lacking is a clear sense of what the user should do next.

I'm ready to set up a PRSA, but the site offers little guidance on how I do that. There's no mention of the September 15th deadline, either.

Over at Eagle Star Life [http://www.eaglestarlife.ie] there's much more functionality and immediacy attached to their PRSA coverage. The company homepage announces that its PRSA offerings were judged the best in the market by Consumer Choice, and on the main PRSA page the imminent deadline is flagged in bold.

A separate site [http://www.onestop.ie] has been created to allow people to apply for their PRSA online, and a calculator helps you explore payment options. There's also online access to your PRSA information once you've set up an account. One drawback to both companies' sites is the lack of search functionality.

There might be little difference between the two companies' PRSA offerings, but Eagle Star do a much better job of explaining why you should consider theirs, and how you can set one up.

The Scores

Criteria	(Full marks)	Eagle Star	Bank of Ireland
Content	(120)	87	71
Functionality	(40)	23	13
Design	(60)	43	42
Total	(220)	182	130

Related Links:

• Bank of Ireland Life - [http://www.bankofirelandlife.com]
• Over at Eagle Star Life - [http://www.eaglestarlife.ie]
• OneStop.ie - [http://www.onestop.ie]