Show your silly loan officer the following from page 6 of the Interagency Appraisal guidelines.
An institution or its agent must directly select and engage appraisers. The only exception to this requirement is that the Agencies’ appraisal regulations allow an institution to use an appraisal prepared for another financial services institution provided certain conditions are met. An institution or its agents also should directly select and engage persons who perform evaluations. Independence is compromised when a borrower recommends an appraiser or a person to perform an evaluation. Independence is also compromised when loan production staff selects a person to perform an appraisal or evaluation for a specific transaction. For certain transactions, an institution also must comply with the provisions addressing valuation independence in Regulation Z (Truth in Lending).
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The opinions expressed are mine and they are not to be taken as legal advice.