Just a few thoughts for you based on my own experience.
About 2 months ago I finished repaying my loan from BBVA after 10 years. On average I paid about 1150 Euros a month, for 8 and half years. Therefore (very rough maths) I borrowed 92,000 and paid back 117,000. I did an integrated course with FTE. When I finished my loan (and since the financial crisis really set in 6 or so years ago) I've been paying a very low interest rate, I think when I cleared the loan it was sitting at 1.75%.
I was 23 when I started, I'm 33 now. I was a "white tail" cadet and was extremely lucky to find a job on the A320 almost as soon as I finished training. I was paid about £40,000 in my first year, with all sorts of extras like medical insurance, flight pay, excellent pension etc. I've since worked for an orange airline and I now work for a flag carrier so I've seen low cost and "legacy" too.
The important point to highlight is that as you can see, I've been very lucky (as I now realise so much of aviation is about luck) but it's STILL not been easy at times. Yes, I took a large loan out and interest rates collapsed. However, I foolishly took the loan in Euros - be VERY careful about borrowing money in one currency and getting paid in another - and the pound collapsed too. Still, it's not been a bad deal and I've always been paid well. The trouble is, living in the south east of the UK is expensive and I do concede this depends on where you end up being based. However, only now, even after all my luck and 10 years down the line, have I scraped together a 5% deposit for a pretty modest house.
Now lets fast forward to today. You will need a bigger loan than me, and the interest rate BBVA now offer is 3% above bank rate, so 3.5% at the moment. Its variable so when interest rates go up, your repayments will go up - this should be a BIG consideration. At the same time, the deal offered to new pilots has got significantly worse, at least for the first couple of years. You could, if you are lucky and the economy continues to expand, be a captain with the orange airline 5 or 6 years after you start flying. But you can't bank on that. What would worry me starting today are the following questions. Can I repay the loan if bank rate rises to 3% (hence 6% on my loan)? How much money will I have left to live every month after I've repaid my loan? Will I have enough to run a car? To pay rent? Do a spreadsheet and figure it all out.
My advice? If you can, apply to a sponsored scheme with a big airline and at least then you should (no guarantees) have a job lined up at the end. You're young enough to give the BA FPP scheme or the easyjet MPL scheme a few tries before you even consider anything else. Don't rush in to anything and especially don't rush into anything because a flying school tells you that "now is a wonderful time to train and you don't want to miss the boat". No one knows where the boat will be in 6 months, let alone when you will finish your training.
Good luck and feel free to PM me - can't promise I'll have all the answers (or even any of them) but I'm happy to share my own experiences with anyone who's interested.
copied from modular vs intergrated not mine!