The new deal displaces a previous agreement under which GMAC agreed to pay GM an exclusivity fee each year through 2016 for the privilege of being the company's sole lender for new sales and leases.
Other details of the agreement include a two-year window during which GM will be allowed to offer 0% loans via other lenders. After the two-year period is up, GM can also offer the loans through GMAC in addition to the other lenders. After December 24, 2013, GM "will have the right to offer retail financing incentive programs through any third party financing source, including GMAC, without any restrictions or limitations," according to the agreement.
GMAC also made more concessions to the government, including the transfer of and additional 250,000 preferred shares at a rate of $0.01 each and a stipulation that if the Treasury isn't paid interest on the preferred shares it owns for six continuous quarters, GMAC will have to add two seats to its management board, to be filled by the Treasury, which will serve until the unpaid amounts have been recovered.
What this means for GMAC is that it will have to find business outside of GM. GM, on the other hand, will also have to find other lenders to finance its cars and especially its leases. Exactly what impact that may have on either company is yet unclear, though by distributing the lender load across multiple companies, it could make GM more resilient to an eventual failure of GMAC, should that transpire.