Yes, even now, I still question the choice I made. At one point, I was ready to do what you said, and take the lender's advice over the agents. It does make sense, the lender should know all the rules and be able to make the final call. The agents don't even really need to be involved at that point. However, it is pretty hard to fly in the face of what multiple agents are strongly urging you to do (not to sign the papers). And I am pretty sure the lender was covering their back in such a way that they would have no liability, and it would look like I had made the decision to use the older paycheck myself, if worse came to worse.
Overall though, I think if I would have shut up in the very beginning and just used an older paycheck that had a matching salary without really thinking about it, everything would have been fine. But once I had disclosed my higher salary and the agents had harped on it as an issue, there is just too much evidence to claim ignorance. 
-Anthony
