Your banker is full of crap.
We had a similar issue a couple years back. Credit scores over 800 but the house was under the value I needed it to be at to qualify for refinance. We went to another bank this past year and got it no problem. Question the appraisal. If you feel it is wrong, fight it.
These rules are much needed. The liberals stripped away all these rules and literally anyone could get a mortgage without any proof of employment or anything. It was absolutely insane. Talk to a mortgage broker about just how bad things got and thank retards like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.
Anyone crying about big government and big brother because of this has their head up their ass. It SHOULD be hard to get a mortgage. You SHOULD have to prove employment and the fact that you can pay the mortgage. Simple as that.
These regs are not needed. Get the Feds out of the banking business. We live in an age where you can get near instant transparency on any bank. Let the Feds set the simple capital ratios for lending and the market will do the rest.