Sex workers say they're being discriminated against after being turned away from banks.
One Wellington brothel owner says she's been refused a loan by every bank in the country.
"They have us by the short and curlys and they like to use that power to pass their moral judgment on us and it's wrong," Funhouse Escort owner Mary Brennan says.
Ms Brennan says she's concerned other sex workers feel forced to hide their profession.
"We are no different to anyone else that runs a business of any type and if I lie about what it is we do just to get past these hoops... then the sex industry and the attitude to it will never move forward and it'll never change."
There's no specific clause in the Human Rights Act preventing discrimination based on a particular type of occupation.
Many banks 1 NEWS spoke to say they have policies on providing services to businesses that may cause social harm. BNZ revealing prostitution is one of the industries it can refuse business to.
ASB says it accepts all customers and it does "genuinely apologise" if sex workers have been told otherwise.
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