Let me give you a good example.  After Ben Bernanke left his position as Fed Chairman (where he had a lot of input into the Dodd Frank rules), he went on the speaking circuit.  In October 2014 at a speech he was giving in Chicago, he said that he had just been declined for a refinance of his house.  He said, "Maybe we went too far."

He didn't say why he was turned down, but I knew instantly.  He'd been making $175,000 per year as the Fed Chair, and was now "self employed" making $400,000 per speech, about 250% of what he'd been making annually in one speech.  But he hadn't been doing it for 2 years, and they don't make exceptions for anyone.  Not even the guy who wrote the rule.

The rules are arbitrary, and allow no room for judgment.  Common sense was made illegal.

I always explain to people who want a 1% down loan, or a VA loan with nothing down but between a 1.5% or 3.3% (subsequent use) funding fee added to the loan how much under water they in with 6% cost to sell. I do refis.