The consumer credit revolution . . ... ZipPay, AfterPay and so on - have clearly changed the way that consumer finance is organised.

You used to put the goods in storage at XYZ retailer and pay it off. Once you'd paid it off, they handed you the goods. Well done, you! (We used to do it for Xmas presents - especially toys and games for the kids. One shopping trip to Kmart, nearly everything is taken care of, then pay the sucker off before December 24!).

Now, you get the goods now and pay it off later - that's why I call it I call it a "Reverse Lay-By" where you get the goods now and pay it off over a period of 6 - 10 weeks. I suspect that this is a response to crippling credit card rates - so retailers now pay a factor to the payment companies to take on the credit risk rather than customers paying on credit cards. Many retailers have been doing it here for years, with Harvey Norman at the forefront of the xx months interest free thing, which is essentially done exactly the same way, but usually for larger purchases.

What prompts me to talk about this? Well, one of our personal loan providers, Latitude introduced the same thing. Latitude is owned by GE, one of the largest 50 companies in the world.

A disruptor changed the playing field (AfterPay), and now a multinational has weighed in with their own offering to cut a piece of the pie (GE). This got me to thinking, and researching matters of scale ........

If you think that governments are something we should all be worried about - consider this….

GE has annual revenue of approximately US$120 billion. That is more revenue than the individual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 135 of the 192 countries in the world recognised by the United Nations. (Australia is #13 on that list, for reference).

Disruptors are being copied by the companies with more resources to bring to bear, and eventually they will buy the disruptors out. As the international conglomerates bring their force to bear, it is really important that we as individuals stay in control of our finances – otherwise they will be controlled for you.

Greg Watson is a Credit Adviser, Mortgage Broker and MFAA member - his focus is on helping people achieve their ambitions and goals, and structuring finance properly to meet those ends - whether that be home ownership, investment, debt reduction or consolidation. Please contact us to assist you further with your finance needs.