I'm all for more sensible mortgage lending rules...

NEW lending rules announced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will require potential borrowers to document financial information, which lenders must verify.

Whoa, what a concept. Talk about the feds cracking down on industry abuses.

Yeah, okay, except it's not that simple. I'm one of those borrowers who "abused" the system via a low documentation loan. And if it wasn't for those looser lending standards, I wouldn't own my house.

About a decade ago, as part of my divorce, I had to buy my ex out of her share of the house. This required refinancing my mortgage. I had nearly perfect credit and a ton of equity in the house, but unfortunately, I'd also recently lost my job in a post-9/11 layoff. So no paycheck.

No problem. Back then, good credit and a ton of equity was all the bank needed. I got my mortgage without having to document my income, and as a result, my daughter didn't have to suffer the further disruption of moving into two new houses. (And in case you're wondering, I've never missed a payment.)

The point is, it's not the "low doc" loans that were the problem, but the dishonest lenders and borrowers who abused them. For people like me who have spent most of our adult lives self-employed, they were a welcome path to homeownership. And now they're gone. Yet another disincentive to entrepreneurialism.