GMAC to shed $55 billion in loans

GMAC, the lending unit of GM that's keeping the company afloat right now, will sell off $55B in loans to Bank of America over the next five years. Short-term, this will mean little to car buyers - even those that use GMAC, as they will still service the loans - but will hopefully allow GM to significantly reduce its debt load and maybe even put a little cash in its pockets. Longer-term, there's a need to get GMAC its own credit rating since it's currently lumped in with GM's "junk" rating, and one possible solution of course is to sell off the lending unit. If that's the plan, then B of A has jumped to the front of the line of prospective buyers. They've been on a bit of a buying streak lately anyways, have purchased Fleet last year and MBNA last month, and are the nation's second largest bank (asset-wise). Feel free to speculate wildly about the effects of a total spin-off, since you can bet that's what the experts will be doing.