CIT has $1.07 billion loss before bankruptcy

The headquarters of CIT Group in seen in New York, in this photograph taken on October 31, 2009.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - CIT Group Inc CITGQ.PK, the large U.S. consumer finance company, on Monday posted a $1.07 billion loss for the third quarter, the last full three-month period prior to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

The net loss attributable to shareholders equaled $2.74 per share, and compared with a loss of $317.3 million, or $1.11, a year earlier.

CIT's quarterly loss from continuing operations was $1.03 billion, compared with a $301.1 million loss a year earlier.

Net revenue was negative $534.1 million, compared with positive $567 million a year earlier. This occurred in part because CIT set aside $701.8 million for credit losses in the quarter, up from $210.3 million a year earlier.

The New York-based company posted results in its quarterly report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

CIT filed one of the largest U.S. bankruptcies in history on November 1, and hopes to emerge from court protection next month under a prepackaged reorganization plan that has won backing from most of its bondholders.

The plan calls for unsecured debtholders to receive 70 cents on the dollar of new notes, plus new common stock.

In contrast, preferred shareholders including the U.S. government, which injected $2.33 billion through its Troubled Asset Relief Program, could be wiped out.

CIT shares closed Monday up two-tenths of a cent at 21.2 cents on the Pink Sheets.

The bankruptcy case is In re CIT Group Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 09-16565.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)