The spreads to make that an economically rational decision haven't been there for a long time.

While REI is a lot of numbers it also includes real people who make really irrational/rational decisions.

I think that we mutually and rationally understand that there’s a middle ground between socialism and institutional racism.

If we're being honest, it's just being vindictive (not saying it's not justified, just not rational from a business point of view.)  

There are many factors as to why you may have made a lesser profit, the blame can in no way be put on the middle man.

They are essentially the middle man for buyers to shop around for different lenders which are matched based off criteria.

If it is a new lender to them either the lender could be a scammer, the middle man just a point taker, the lender could re-trade terms mid deal all the time,etc.If you the buyer are trying some oddball type property and seeking cherry financing the odds are stacked against you that you have NOT found the one with amazing terms that the market isn't giving.

When we run into the people with issues, we sent them direct to you without the middleman, so they can sweet talk you into taking them.   

You can justify a personal decision with math, but it doesn't work in reverse, that's just a rationalization,...and that's the most expensive word in the REI vocabulary. 

You need to decide if you can rationalize the extra cost, it is a classic MBA MAKE versus BUY question.