Cerberus says GMAC may face difficulty: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - GMAC LLC, the auto and mortgage lender controlled by Cerberus Capital, may face "substantial difficulty" if credit markets do not improve, Cerberus founder Stephen Feinberg wrote in a January letter to investors, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.

"We have detailed contingency plans in a continuing worsening environment," Feinberg wrote, according to Bloomberg. "However, if the credit markets continue to decline and we find ourselves in a prolonged environment of capital market shutdown, GMAC could run into substantial difficulty."

Cerberus declined to comment.

GMAC posted a $724 million fourth-quarter loss earlier this month and was downgraded by Moody's Investors Service after more customers fell behind on payments for their houses, cars and trucks. The loss compared with a year-earlier $1.02 billion profit, but improved from a $1.6 billion loss in the third quarter.

Cerberus led a group that bought 51 percent of GMAC in 2006 from General Motors Corp GM.N, which owns 49 percent of GMAC.

(Reporting by Jonathan Keehner and Megan Davies, editing by Phil Berlowitz)