GMAC sells auto loans to Scotia Capital

Detroit-based automaker General Motors Corp. today said that its financing arm, General Motors Acceptance Corp. would be selling as much as  $20 billion retail auto loans over the next five years to Canada’s third largest bank Bank of Nova Scotia.General Motors is now trying to raise capital after Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings cut its credit rating to junk status in May after which GMAC had to pay higher interest rates on money lent to buyers of cars and trucks manufactured by its parent company. The sale by GMAC to Scotia Capital, Bank of Nova Scotia’s corporate and investment banking division, follows months after the firm made another deal with Bank of America to sell auto loans worth roughly $55 billion in the next five years. According to a statement from GM, Bank of Nova Scotia would initially buy $3 billion in loans in December. The deal’s pricing terms have not been disclosed. Early in 2005, GM said that it is considering selling a majority stake in GMAC, considered its most profitable unit.