It looks like things might have changed (in the last few days) with the finance arrangement being done at Southampton HSBC instead of Hythe. Not sure if there possibly looking for a back-up plan as well from people, just given the current credit problems.
Then again could be a simple case that Hythe cant deal with the volume of cadets arranging loans there, really is a tiny branch. Im sure the guys organising there loans over the next week or so will shed more light on the changes.