General Motors' (NYSE: GM) financing unit, GMAC LLC announced on Wednesday that its third quarter net loss rose to a record $2.52 billion compared to a net loss of $1.6 billion in the corresponding quarter in 2007. This is the fifth straight quarterly loss for the New York based company. The company has posted a total of $7.9 billion in losses since last year when subprime crisis first burst into the scene. Total net revenue declined 24% to $1.72 billion from $2.25 billion in the same period in 2007.ResCap Holding, an umbrella company for GMAC's residential mortgage business, lost $1.9 billion. GM's auto finance business registered a loss of $294 billion compared to a profit of $554 million a year ago. Its insurance unit recorded a $97 million profit. GMAC ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $13.5 billion, compared with $14.3 billion as of June 30.

Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP owns 51% in GMAC, while Detroit-based General Motors Corp. holds the rest.

The company cautioned that ResCap Holding may fail to survive. In a statement on Wednesday, the company said "substantial doubt exists regarding ResCap's ability to continue as a going concern".

Chief executive officer, Alvaro G. de Molina said in a statement, "In this climate, our primary objective is to make prudent use of our resources and take the steps needed to address the reduced access to liquidity."

The company has been particularly hit hard by a slump in housing sector and auto industry. Mounting job losses and decline in consumer spending has only made matters worse for a company like GMAC.

GMAC is trying to transform itself into a bank holding company, as it would help it access new capital from the Treasury's $700 billion fund. The company is also planning to refinance its debt. GMAC is currently an industrial bank, which isn't eligible for a capital infusion from the Treasury.

Recently, GMAC modified its norms for U.S. consumer auto financing which included limiting purchases to contracts with a credit score of 700 or above and restricting contracts with higher advance rates and longer terms. Also, beginning this month, the company has stopped providing auto loans in seven European countries. The company is also considering ending lending activities in Australia and New Zealand by the end of the year. Earlier, in September, GMAC slashed 5,000 jobs at its ResCap mortgage lending subsidiary, or 60 percent of the staff, and closed all 200 GMAC Mortgage retail offices.

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.