U.S. offers $6 bln to support auto lender GMAC

WASHINGTON, Dec 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. government said on Monday it was pumping $5 billion into auto and mortgage lender GMAC LLC and lending up to $1 billion to automaker General Motors, ensuring the solvency of a company considered crucial to GM's survival.

The Treasury Department said it would buy $5 billion in senior preferred equity with an 8 percent dividend from GMAC. It also said it is lending up to $1 billion to GM to help GMAC reorganize itself as a bank holding company.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it was dipping into a $700 billion bailout fund to buy equity in GMAC and lend to GM, the latest in a string of capital injections aimed at easing the worst credit crisis since the 1930s.

GMAC won Federal Reserve approval to become a bank holding company last week, giving it access to the emergency source of funds and helping it avoid bankruptcy.

The company, co-owned by GM and private equity firm Cerberus, has lost $7.9 billion over the last five quarters as the credit crunch lifted its borrowing costs sharply and the value of many of its assets plunged. (Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Gary Hill)