I can think of one company which only allows you to land with flaps 3 after you have accumulated certain experience on type. Due to the unusual attitude and higher than normal ROD, there are the inherent risks of a hard landing due to a misjudged flare or even a tailstrike. I have never been close to controllability becoming an issue at the lower speed with flaps full, so the primary arguments in favour remain noise and fuel consumption. 8 kg per flight may not sound significant, but over the lifetime of the aircraft it adds up to quite a number.
As for approach stabilisation, using the flaps as a brake is not a good idea because you will quickly wreck the bearings in their actuators. Unlike the 737 with its massive screwjacks for the flaps, the A320 uses a system of arm actuators which is light and compact but also heavily reliant on said bearings. When the bearings are worn, you can easily feel it with some nasty vibration appearing once the flaps are down.