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These are loans where a combination of products is packaged together by the lender usually for one annual fee.

How does it work?

Professional packages originated from banks offering loans to particular professionals eg doctors. However these days the same package is available to any customer meeting a set of criteria. These criteria vary slightly from lender to lender but generally can be summarised as follows:

• A minimum loan size – generally this is $250,000 initially with total lending not to fall below $150,000.
• A minimum income level – generally this may be $50,000 for an individual or $75,000 for a couple.

It is important to note that increasingly there is no income requirement – just a loan size requirement – for most lenders.

Features

• One annual fee (usually $290 - $400 per annum) that represents a saving on fees for the products individually.
• Credit Card with 55 days interest free and access to the relevant rewards program with the usual annual fee waived.
• A discount off the standard variable loan rates (and sometimes fixed rates) for the life of the loan.
• Waiving of monthly account keeping fees on mortgage accounts that usually attract them. Thus allowing you to have multiple sub-accounts at no extra charge.
• Often come with a mortgage offset account

When is it used?

A professional pack is best used under the following circumstances:

1. Where your loan size is such that the additional discount on the interest rate and savings on monthly fees more than compensate for the annual fee being charged.
   
   
2. Where your loan is a part of your overall wealth creation strategy. This suits people who want numerous lines of credit or sub-accounts for taxation purpose and also want to minimise account keeping fees.

When structured correctly these packages can often provide superior flexibility & cost savings.