Hi Spiggy,
I finished an integrated course in 2007 and now have that dream job. Here's my version of the answers:
Probable cost: My training at FTE (Jerez) cost about £3000 more than advertised. This was due to some extra Seneca flights I had (extra flights are charged at a very high rate because of the "calibre of instructors and aircraft") On the plus side, there were no other costs to pay which I hadn't thought of. all the food and accommodation was paid for. The only "unforeseen" cost was how much drinking I did in the year!
Loans: As long as you've got the collateral I'd be surprised if you couldn't get a loan for an integrated course.
Jobs: The question of whether an integrated school is more likely to lead to a job has been done to death here. There are more "modular people" here so inevitably more of them will have got a job straight out of flight school and there are more of them to tell you about it.
The best information I can give you is this: At a careers fair I had the opportunity to ask 6-8 industry leaders (chief pilots and the like) to expand on their preference for integrated or modular. ALL OF THEM HAD THE SAME ANSWER:
We know the history and the standard of training of integrated schools. Students have been primed from day one to think like an airline pilot. Depending upon the market, many of them would accept integrated students with lower hours (and some from large, well known modular schools too) but in general they all leant towards integrated training. Having instructed since, I can understand their point of view.
So these guys seemed to think that integrated students were more likely to get a job. The question is How much more likely? Is it enough to warrant the extra money? There is still every possibility that the student could graduate and never get a job. Or maybe they'd get the same job no matter whether they went integrated or modular, however by going modular you've saved a lot of money which would pretty much cover the cost of a type rating.