After the devastating national sub-prime loan crisis, lenders needed to raise their guidelines for lending money. However, there is one segment of the population that is being affected unfairly: pregnant women and new moms.

Mortgage companies are now considering maternity leave to be the same as unemployment, and thus an immediate disqualification for a home loan. Even if a woman's leave is only scheduled for a couple weeks, that can still be enough to deny her application. The short-term disability insurance that new mothers can receive does not count as qualifying income, either.

Part of the reason behind these new harsher guidelines is due to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the two mortgage behemoths that buy up most of the traditional loans from lenders, require both proof of income and verification that that income is likely to continue for at least three years. Previously, maternity leave was understood to be a brief break work (which clearly it is); now, oftentimes lenders consider it to be complete stoppage of income and will not approve the loan until the mom is back at work.

Tightening up guidelines for home loans is definitely a good thing. Of course lenders should not be giving money to people who can't reasonably afford it. The key word there, though, is reasonable. Using planned maternity leave to automatically disqualify a woman— especially when the woman has excellent credit, savings,  and a commitment to rejoin her workplace— is not reasonable.

Tell Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not to penalize women simply because they are pregnant.