1. If you know the credits already, no need to pull at all till you locate the loan agent. You will only have one pull by the time to submit the loan. when you compare the rate, always give all the loan agent same credit score to compare. 2. Never use any unknown bank you are not aware of. Even for us, we never take risk to submit the new purchase loan to any lenders we never deal with to make sure the smoothly closing. Many online banking do provide attractive rate but they will have some potential cost. You can check aorund for referrals from your friends, colleagues.... talk to the brokers by your own and work with some one who has good reputation. Good luck!
Sorry to hear that you had such bad experience. If your lender request the every doc in China, that is really ridiculous. For the new graduate student without two years working history, one diploma should work, with offer letter and pay stub. Check deposits will be sourced for any lenders.