So if you fail at OATs with a loan from HSBC, how are you going to pay the bank back? I am guessing, even though the loan might be fully unguaranteed, that you might get a job doing what you are already trained/qualified in, or even at Tesco's or somewhere, so that you have some form of income before HSBC come after you for everything you have!! Therefore, I am presuming that this is also what you would do if you parents had signed a form (not giving HSBC their house, but a simple guarantee form saying that they could make the payments if you failed to) before HSBC started asking them to make payments on your behalf.
Anyway, rather than nit picking about the finer points of securities on a huge bank loan, I am sure that anyone who has made it through either the OATs, Cabair, CTC, Jerez or anyone else's pre-selection process has what it takes to complete the course with flying colours. Why else would HSBC give unsecured loans? Because they trust that the preselection will weed out those for might fall at the first hurdle!
But the big if, is always what will the job market be like in 13 months time when I graduate, and will I be good enough to get one of those few jobs that are around at the time for low houred pilots?
But hey, this is aviation ... and we are all crazy enough and keen enough to take that risk because we want to fulfil that dream! All I am trying to say, is the financing on the Flybe scheme should not be enough to put you off from applying, especially if you are already considering getting a loan from HSBC to go to OATs! Whether its Cabair, OATs, TCX with OATs, Excel with OATs, Flybe with Cabair, CTC Wings, at the end of the day you will pay for you licence in full, its just clever ways of trying to help you spread that cost up front and for the next few years, and to me, whilst it might not be the best deal that ever graced the planet as far as pilot sponsorships/cadetships go, I think an interest free and VAT free loan from an airline for a third of your training costs is a darn sight better than 2% above base! Now I am not saying that the OAT airline schemes are not good as well, they just do the maths in a different way, you just need to be flexible to see that other ways can work as well, and be prepared to put in a bit of leg work with HSBC yourself to secure the financing.