GMAC expands auto lending

NEW YORK (AP) — General Motors’ financing arm said Wednesday it will temporarily waive some dealer fees and make $5 billion available for loans to an expanded pool of potential car buyers in a bid to halt the extended slide in U.S. vehicle sales.

Car dealers nationwide have been hammered by low consumer confidence and worries among potential buyers about the future of the U.S. auto industry.

A lack of available credit also has left many consumers who might be still looking for a new vehicle without the affordable financing they needed to make a deal.

Bill Muir, president of GMAC Financial Services, said the sales plunge has resulted in vehicles’ piling up on dealer lots for longer amounts of time, meaning higher financing charges for dealers and causing the vehicles to lose value as they age.

As a result, GMAC said it’s eliminating all dealer curtailment payments — which require the repayment of part of a dealer’s wholesale loan if a vehicle goes unsold for a certain amount of time — for aging inventory during April.

In addition, GMAC, which provides financing to both General Motors Corp. dealers and customers, is waiving through June the fee for posting aging vehicles on its online site. It is also allowing some dealers to postpone wholesale interest charges for two 30-day periods over the next four months.

At the same time, the company said it is setting aside $5 billion for consumer loans over the next 60 days and will resume lending to consumers with credit scores below 620. GMAC also said it will cut certain rates for both new- and used-vehicle financing.