My mrs met the CTC Wings lending manager for HSBC at a charity do just before crimbo....he said that there will be no more student pilot loans for around 5 years due to their current massive exposure and relatively small amounts of money being repaid. Until they balance their books they are not going to backing any more CTC students of any other trainee pilots for that matter. According to this guy, whilst the credit crunch has influenced their decision it isnt the driving force behind their decision. They have a set amount that they are willing to be exposed to and that limit has been hit. Simple as that.