Not sure on the income requirement.. in the states as long as your paying tax on gambling winnings you can be a professional gambler and use that income for loan purposes.WElcome to BP.. hope you make some great connections here.

However, at some point, the cashiers check will be discovered to be a forgery/fraudulent and the money will be pulled back out of your account and you’ll be out all the money you “refunded” the scammer.  

Question - If the reason for a lot of these insurance companies going under is fraud / fraudulent claims.

That said I think there's some gambling going on.

Not sure why anyone is surprised that STR financing is tightening up.Hotels and gambling are hardest hit during recessions.

Just make sure you don't do anything fraudulent.

So, if you are comfortable with month-to-month and gamble on what happens after closing, then do nothing.

Early paybacks decreases the return --- if you really dispute that, then you should file a claim, I guess with the SEC for one, for fraudulent claims on all the various public filings. 

I did not want to gamble all of my family's saving for this education.

Unless you know exactly when the next dip in the market will be you could be attempting to gamble on that and lose if nothing happens for awhile.