Business

Ally’s mortgage unit headed for bankruptcy

Ally Financial will likely place its troubled mortgage unit into bankruptcy in the next three weeks, The Post has learned.

CEO Michael Carpenter has been trying to avoid a bankruptcy for ResCap, the troubled operation, for months but in recent weeks has started to believe that he’s exhausted all options and that further delaying a filing might be even more costly, sources said.

“I think [Carpenter’s] resigned himself to filing at this point and is just tallying how much it’s going to cost him to pay bankers and restructuring firms [to go through bankruptcy],” said a source familiar with the situation.

An Ally spokeswoman declined to comment.

If Ally doesn’t find a solution soon — a debt payment is due May 14 and it doesn’t currently have the cash to make it — and is forced to file bankruptcy, it would be a huge black eye for the Obama administration.

Obama’s re-election team hopes to hang its hat during the coming presidential campaign on its success in breathing life into the moribund economy by way of its bailout programs.

A ResCap bankruptcy also could deliver a sizable blow to taxpayers, as Uncle Sam is still owed $12 billion of the $16 billion it pumped into the firm.

The US owns a 74 percent stake in Ally, which was formerly known as GMAC.

A bankruptcy filing would mark a 180-degree reversal for ResCap and Ally, which months ago was heading toward a much-hailed initial public offering that would have valued the bank at as much as $30 billion.

That deal capsized over worries that Ally might be whacked by big mortgage liabilities.

A ResCap bankruptcy could play into the hands of Fortress Investment Group, the distressed-mortgage investor run by Wes Edens, which is very close to a deal to buy most of its assets, sources said.

Officials at Fortress could not be reached for comment.

The high costs of keeping up with Ally’s debts and its festering mortgage problems at ResCap are forcing Carpenter’s hand, one source said.

“No decision is going to be made lightly [on the firm’s plans],” said one source.

Increasing the challenge for Carpenter and Ally is what’s viewed as a tense relationship with the Treasury Dept.

Treasury has not wanted to appear heavy-handed in its dealings with the private enterprise, sources said.

Carpenter is keenly focused on returning taxpayers’ money, but he has felt that Treasury and Ally were not always working from the same playbook.