Voters may not appreciate General Motors taking taxpayer money from the federal government in order to avoid collapse, but GM’s CEO and board chairman Ed Whitacre said that the company may be able to pay back the loan sooner than once believed.Whitacre recently talked to reporters via an Internet chat. GM, he said, it will begin making quarterly repayments starting later this month. It is said that the first payments will be $1 billion to the U.S. government and $192 million to the Canadian government. Canada assisted in the bailout of GM. Due to the governments loans GM has been able to amass $17.4 billion in an escrow account. GM will use this money to make the first payments. It plans to spend $8.1 billion of the escrow fund to pay back the U.S. and Canadian loans, $2.8 billion for Delphi and $900 million for the Canadian healthcare trust.
Finally, Whitacre said that he is continuing to look for a buyer for Saab after Koenigsegg Automotive dropped out of its deal to buy the brand.
According to the loan agreement, pay back is supposed to be by June 2010.
This issue is going to get out of hand soon if GM somehow doesn’t pay the loan in full. Personally I think it’s great they are paying back the loan but they should make sure first though that they are solid and are making profit so them asking for loans doesn’t happen again.