I'd leave an FI rating until Feb/Mar next year - its hard to get a first job as an FI in the depths of winter. Be aware though that it takes a good few weeks to complete the course and thus the accomodation and loss of earnings costs are high.
Northern Rock were a scandal and the Directors should be ashamed. They had a reckless business model of borrowing money to overlend to people with little financial sense. They were all gambling on a house price bubble. That gamble has failed as all gambles do if you keep them going long enough. Reckless lenders like the Rock are bad money that drives out good and I will not be sorry to see their branches closed and assets stripped. I feel sorry for the staff but not for anyone else involved including the shareholders.
I think we can agree that CDL's and unsecured loans for flying training are now much much harder to get and will be smaller in size. Combined with the bank of Mum & Dads main asset (their house) now closing for further business there may well be a drop in the numbers heading for flying school.
This may be balanced by the fact that the coming recession will result in a lot of redundancy. People who receive large redundancy payments have been known to spend them on funding a CPL/IR course as it proves the impetus to make the long contemplated career change.
Cheers
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