1991–2009
In 1991, the company was forced to write-off $275 million in bad debt as part of a $436 million loss suffered from fraud committed by John McNamara, who ran a Ponzi scheme.[6]
In 1998, the company formed GMAC Real Estate.[4] In 1999, GMAC Mortgage acquired Ditech.[7] In 2000, the company formed GMAC Bank, a direct bank.[4] In 2005, the company formed GMAC ResCap as a holding company for its mortgage operations.[4]
In 2006, General Motors sold a 51% interest in GMAC to Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm. Also that year, GMAC sold a controlling interest of GMAC Commercial Holdings (its real estate division renamed Capmark) to Goldman Sachs, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Five Mile Capital Partners.[8] GMAC Real Estate was sold to Brookfield Asset Management. In 2009, Capmark filed for bankruptcy and its North American loan origination and servicing business was acquired by Berkadia, a joint venture of Leucadia National and Berkshire Hathaway.[9]
On December 24, 2008, the Federal Reserve accepted the company's application to become a bank holding company.[10] In January 2009, the company closed Nuvell Financial Services, its subprime lending division.[11][12]
As a result of losses in GMAC ResCap, a subsidiary of the company, the United States Department of the Treasury invested $17.2 billion in the company in 2008–2009. The Treasury sold its last stake in the company in 2014, recovering $19.6 billion from its $17.2 billion investment.[13]
In April 2009, the bank announced plans to move its Charlotte office from Ballantyne to 106525 sqft on four floors of 440 South Church, with possible expansion later. At the time, the bank had 265 Charlotte employees in three business units.[14][15]
In May 2009, GMAC Bank was rebranded as Ally Bank.[16]
