GMAC LLC's first-quarter loss widened as credit woes continued to mount.
The company said Tuesday that it was seeing some improvement in its mortgage business — the beleaguered Residential Capital LLC unit reported a narrower loss.
General Motors Corp. owns 49% of cash-strapped GMAC, and Cerberus Capital Management owns the controlling, 51% stake. The lender got a $5 billion capital infusion under the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program when it converted to a bank holding company.
Chief executive Alvaro Molina said Tuesday that the soft economy and weaker credit performance continued to hurt GMAC's results. However, he said the company expanded retail auto lending and reentered the prime jumbo mortgage market.
GMAC lost $675 million in the quarter, compared with a year-earlier loss of $589 million. The results included $631 million of debt-extinguishment gains. Revenue fell 8.8%, to $2.2 billion.
The loan-loss provision jumped 78%, to $843 million, but was down 37% from the fourth quarter. The auto-finance unit's profit slid 13% on weaker credit performance.
The company's mortgage operations, which include Residential Capital along with the ResMor Trust Canadian mortgage operation, lost $125 million, compared with $859 million the year earlier.
The company said mortgage origination volume has begun to improve, though it was still down 29% from a year earlier.
