WWW is quite right. Idle, uninformed speculation, with which this thread started and has largely continued can only be damaging to OATS and to the industry. It is extremely unfair to post harmful rumours with no real information to support an inflammatory headline.
Credit cards are not necessarily the best way to protect your money. If you are putting money up front, ask the school about setting up an escrow account. Those who had money in one with SFT did not lose out significantly. This not only is good protection but saves you the 3-5% premium most schools will charge on credit card payments (over £1500 on an OATS course!)