In my experience, mortgage originators rely on box-checking to get mortgages to pass. They make no decisions; it's an amoral, automatic process which happens to be much less efficient than it could be as the industry clings to the idea that homebuyers need to talk to someone on the phone and the people in seats are actually necessary.
Around 2013, WF Mortgage denied me a refinance on a property. It was my primary home (high-rise condo) when I bought it, then it became a rental. The reason for the denial was, my condo unit was in the same building as a hotel (downtown in a city), so it was labelled a "condotel". This was a shock to me. After researching condotels, I explained that the definition did not fit my property, but it didn't matter to WF. This was frustrating to me because WF originated the original mortgage when I purchase the property in 2007, and I never missed a payment. The refinance would lower my payment significantly due to lower interest and a large chunk of the principal that I paid down. They did not care at all. They all but told me to fuck off and stop calling them. It was like they wanted anti customer loyalty. I used Quicken Loans for the refinance--no problems.
Around 2013, WF Mortgage denied me a refinance on a property. It was my primary home (high-rise condo) when I bought it, then it became a rental. The reason for the denial was, my condo unit was in the same building as a hotel (downtown in a city), so it was labelled a "condotel". This was a shock to me. After researching condotels, I explained that the definition did not fit my property, but it didn't matter to WF. This was frustrating to me because WF originated the original mortgage when I purchase the property in 2007, and I never missed a payment. The refinance would lower my payment significantly due to lower interest and a large chunk of the principal that I paid down. They did not care at all. They all but told me to fuck off and stop calling them. It was like they wanted anti customer loyalty. I used Quicken Loans for the refinance--no problems.