A fair housing organization is claiming the $3.7 billion Bellco Credit Union discriminated against women by denying them mortgages because they were on maternity leave, according to a federal lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver last month.

In a statement Wednesday, the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based credit union denied the state and federal allegations of discriminatory lending practices.

"To our knowledge, no one ever applied for, nor was denied a home loan based on the call recordings from the Denver Metro Fair Housing Center," the credit union said. "We believe the allegations in the suit could have been addressed between our two not-for-profit companies directly instead of through a lawsuit where valuable resources are being spent on attorneys and court costs. Our attorneys are investigating the specific allegations in the complaint and will respond to them in court, but we are confident that the lawsuit has no merit."