GM said it 'looks forward to working with the government on all elements of the loan agreement and our viability plan. We appreciate the administration extending a financial bridge to GM at this critical time for the U.S. auto industry.' GM had faced the possibility of collapse as early as the first week of this month, when large supplier bills will come due, while Chrysler warned it could have collapsed early this year. The Treasury Department said it continues to work with Chrysler to finalize the terms of its loan. 'We remain committed to closing it on a timeline that will meet near term funding needs,' Treasury spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin said Wednesday. Treasury also issued final guidelines Wednesday for its broader auto industry financing program, saying it would decide to grant aid on a 'case by case basis.' It isn't clear how much additional funds -- if any-- it would be willing to allocate beyond the $23.4 billion already approved for GM, Chrysler and GMAC LLC. The Treasury Department said it would be guided by 'the importance of the institution to production by, or financing of, the American automotive industry' and 'whether a major disruption of the institution's operations would likely have a materially adverse effect on employment and thereby produce negative spillover effects on overall economic performance.' The guidelines say another factor is 'whether the institution is sufficiently important' to the country's economy that a major disruption of its operations likely would impair credit markets, increase uncertainty or erode confidence and consequently harm overall economic performance. Also Wednesday, GMAC Financial Services said that bondholders who controlled $21.2 billion of the company's debt agreed to a debt-for-equity exchange, which fell short of GMAC's goal of raising $30billion in capital. The shortfall will not jeopardize GMAC's newly won status as a bank holding company, a designation that lets the ailing auto finance company tap into the $700 billion Wall Street rescue fund. Nor will it affect a $6 billion investment announced Monday by the Treasury Department to strengthen GM's most important lending company and further protect the automaker from financial ruin. About $17.5 billion, or 59 percent, of the old GMAC notes were swapped, along with $3.7 billion, or 39 percent, of outstanding notes from Residential Capital LLC, its mortgage lending subsidiary. GMAC's goal was 75 percent. 'The bond exchange was a critical step toward GMAC achieving approval to become a bank holding company,' spokeswoman Gina Proia said. 'Under this new structure, the company is better positioned for the long-term to make credit available to consumers and businesses.' GM disclosed Wednesday that GMAC on Tuesday had repaid $1.5billion to the cash-strapped automaker, money that was owed for wholesale financing of vehicles sold to dealers, according to a regulatory filing. GMAC won approval from the U.S. Federal Reserve last week to become a bank holding company. GM, which owns 49 percent of GMAC, and majority owner Cerberus Capital Management LP, with 51 percent, agreed to relinquish their holdings to enable GMAC to become a bank and get access to federal aid. Cerberus agreed to distribute its stake to its investors, and GM will cede control and cut its stake to less than 10 percent. Chrysler Financial, the lending arm affiliated with Chrysler, is still waiting for a response to its request for federal aid, according to Bloomberg News report. Both lenders have struggled to get the money they need to make loans to consumers and car dealers, who borrow money to finance their vehicle inventories, amid the global credit crunch. The lenders' problems have contributed to a dramatic decline in auto sales.