Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial insight, gathered from around the web:
A big bill after mortgage aid
Homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages aren't getting consistent relief, said Tara Siegel Bernard at The New York Times. With home loans that are held by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac or loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, you can suspend payments for up to a year, and make up costs over time or in some cases not "until the home is sold or refinanced when the loan term is up." But roughly 30 percent of homeowners "are not governed by the same rules." That includes those with so-called jumbo loans outside Fannie Mae limits. Many servicers have granted borrowers a three-month forbearance but are asking for a lump-sum payment when the deadline arrives — essentially demanding four months of payment in one shot. Others have been more forgiving, for example Wells Fargo, which has allowed customers to suspend payments for slightly longer terms.
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Chinese companies face U.S. delisting
"A bill that could force Chinese companies to give up their listings on American stock exchanges has been moving at 'warp speed,'" said Thomas Franck at CNBC. The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act passed the Senate with unanimous consent last week. The bill creates new auditing requirements for foreign companies that sell shares in the U.S., effectively barring many Chinese firms. Wall Street for years has complained that China "denies U.S. regulator requests for audits." Investors have reaped major gains from some U.S.-listed Chinese companies, such as e-commerce giant Alibaba, but others, such as the search company Baidu, have underperformed.
Huge backlog for disaster loans
Lawmakers are frustrated by a lack of transparency at the Small Business Administration, said Amara Omeokwe at The Wall Street Journal. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer "has sent eight letters to the SBA since March" about the $670 billion Paycheck Protection Program and has not yet received a response. The SBA is also overseeing an Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, but business owners complain of a lack of information and responsiveness. The SBA says it has granted 252,000 loans worth nearly $25 billion through the disaster program. But with only 4,000 staffers dealing with more than 5.4 million applications, "there is a large backlog." SBA administrator Jovita Carranza "has been largely out of sight amid the crisis," despite requests for her to appear before the Senate Small Business Committee.
