General Motors Financial Services (GMAC) has sold $5 billion of its preferred membership interests and warrants to the US Department of the Treasury unde the Troubled Assets Relief Program established under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

GMAC also received approval of its bank holding company application from the US Federal Reserve Board on Christmas Eve.

As a bank holding company, GMAC has improved access to funding to provide financing to consumers and businesses.

In a statement the company said it “intends to act quickly to resume automotive lending to a broader spectrum of customers to support the availability of credit to consumers and businesses for the purchase of automobiles”.