US Treasury says bailout repayments reach $181 bln

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday said total bailout repayments have reached $181 billion with the receipt of $3.4 billion from insurer Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG.N) and another $1 billion installment payment from General Motors Co.

The Treasury said in a statement repayments to the Troubled Asset Relief Program are running well ahead of 2010 repayment projections made last fall.

It currently estimates that $245 billion in bank investments, including larger bailouts of Citigroup (C.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N), "will earn a profit thanks to dividends, interest, early repayments and the sale of warrants".

These investments were initially projected to produce a $76 billion loss for taxpayers. However, for TARP as a whole, including investments in automakers, insurer American International Group (AIG.N) and housing rescue efforts, the Treasury is still projecting a loss.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last month told U.S. lawmakers that the TARP loss estimates had fallen from around $500 billion when the Obama administration took office last year to less than $100 billion.

U.S. taxpayers have received a total of $14 billion through interest and dividends, the Treasury said, adding that total could be "considerably higher" by the end of 2010.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Andrew Hay)