The repayments are steep on the CDL, however, if you play it right then its not too bad. What's incredibly good about the CDL is that firstly, you don't have to make any payments until two months after you've completed the course (so that's 14 months without having to pay anything). Secondly, the government pays your interest in those 14 months so you don't have to make up for it after that time. Thirdly, unlike most loans, there's no charge to pay it off early so the best thing to do is to take out a regular loan after 13 months, the best one you can find in terms of interest with a payment schedule you can afford and then use that to pay off the CDL. Even if you *don't* need a CDL, if you get it and shove it into a high interest bank account for the year, you can make up to £500.