In greece, olympic air bonds for two years for the Q400. Aegean airlines used to do none of the two, just recently have they started saying that type rating is prefered.
I think the way airlines think has changed over the past few years. Most airlines will just ask for type rated pilots if the operate popular types of aircraft. Otherwise they just ask you to pay up front. EZY and RYR are two very specific cases.. Ryanair have large rapid needs for pilots and they found that there are enough candidates willing to fork up the money up front, nice and warm. EZY used to have the TRSS which if im not mistaken gave secured loans to the pilots, which they had to pay back tax free as long as they worked for the airline. Ever since the economy went downward they used the desperation of young pilots to feed their seasonal needs of pilots. Its a fair deal if you ask me, but thats what the airline needs. Dont forget that all these type rating schemes differ from country to country. In some countries the laws state that professional training is tax free for aviation. So no VAT is added to professional training. Finally, everything has to do with supply and demand. In some airlines, the requirments and the target market for pilots simply do not allow them to be so picky and ask for money up front..