As someone who has had a very charmed route into the airline industry:
PPL at Biggin Hill then hour building and distance learning ATPL theoretical
Flight school - Jerez
Unpaid safety pilot job - about 6 months
Regional FO (flybe) - just under 2 years
Shorthaul FO (BA) - Airbus
I have little right to preach about the pro and cons of paying for a TR - it's something that by my own admission i've never had to consider.
Just be wary guys and gals - cheques only take seconds to write out but paying them back can take a decade or even longer (I say this from experience). If the money is your parents and paying it back is not the issue then ask yourself what is the liklihood you'll be kept on after your contractual package with Easyjet has ended? - If the answer is 'unlikely' you'll find yourself with a further 30 odd grand to repay and adrift in a sea of currently unemployed 737 type rated chaps/chapesses who have many thousands of hours compared to your 500.
I understand the quandry. In the old days the route to the RHS was a well trodden one, flight school then instructor or parachute dropper or safety pilot then turboprop driver (or 73) and so on. This path has become muddied not only by the downturn but also by new pilots shelling out for these packages in the hope of leap frogging the rest of the pack. And the truth is (IMHO) so many people have started to do it that in a way this has become the new norm - the point being there is no longer such an advantage to be had by doing it.
Its easy to be seduced by the dream (and it can be great career despite things looking pretty down beat right now) just think long and hard before each move you make.
CB