Auto Finance in the Know

After months of talks, the Treasury Department has announced that it will be giving $3.5 billion to Detroit-based finance company GMAC. The amount is in addition to the $13.4 billion already invested in GMAC last year.

This year has been a turbulent one for GMAC according to personnel at Manchester Used Cars. The company has been evaluating its automotive and residential mortgage financing programs to ensure its growth and ability to repay government loans in the future. Despite setbacks, GMAC continues to be the main lender for GM and Chrysler dealerships and their customers.

Last December, GMAC became a bank holding, allowing it to receive aid from the Treasury. The Treasury now holds a 35.4 percent equity stake in the financial institution. Earlier this year, the Treasury stated that it would invest up to $5.6 billion in GMAC, indicating that more money could be alloted if the $3.5 billion is not sufficient capital.

Although auto sales in 2009 were down compared to last year, GMAC’s auto lending business has shown positive signs of life. In the third quarter of this year, the company showed a profit of $395 million, and its online consumer banking unit, Ally Bank, continues to receive plenty of new deposits.

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Keep track GMAC news on this auto financing blog.

Tags: auto lending, chrysler, gm, gmac, treasury

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Auto Finance News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.