NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Finance company GMAC LLC lost $2.52 billion in the third quarter, hurt by the housing slump and vehicle lease writedowns, and said its mortgage unit, one of the nation's largest home loan providers, may not survive.
The fifth straight quarterly loss compared with a loss of $1.6 billion a year earlier and brought GMAC's losses since the middle of 2007 to $7.9 billion.
Its mortgage lending unit, Residential Capital LLC, lost $1.91 billion in the quarter, its eighth straight quarterly loss. It has lost $9.1 billion over that two-year period.
"Economic and market conditions created an unrelenting environment for our business," GMAC Chief Executive Alvaro de Molina said in a statement. "In this climate, our primary objective is to make prudent use of our resources and take the steps needed to address the reduced access to liquidity."
GMAC said the deteriorating housing market has made it tough for ResCap to maintain sufficient capital and liquidity. "Absent economic support from GMAC, substantial doubt exists regarding ResCap's ability to continue as a going concern," it said.
GMAC's results will hurt General Motors Corp, which still owns 49 percent of Detroit-based GMAC after selling the rest in 2006 to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP.
GMAC has slashed its lending after losses soared because of the U.S. housing slump, tight credit markets, mounting customer defaults and falling vehicle sales.
It is seeking to become a bank holding company, and this week said it plans to restructure much of its debt, less than five months after completing a $60 billion refinancing.
Insurance was GMAC's only profitable unit, with earnings of $97 million.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; editing by John Wallace)
((jon.stempel@thomsonreuters.com +1 646 223 6317; Reuters Messaging: jon.stempel.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: GMAC/
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