DETROIT — General Motors has apparently decided to forgo plans to acquire a captive lending arm and instead is in talks with various financial institutions to strike up new partnerships that increases auto loans approvals across the credit spectrum.

GM already works with AmeriCredit to get credit-challenged customers behind the wheel of its vehicles, but it also now seeking new relationships.

By working with more lenders, GM is seeking to drive even more sales than what its relationship with AmeriCredit entails.

A GM spokesperson told SubPrime Auto Finance News this morning, "Access to financing is an important part of the vehicle sales process, and we're using a multi-pronged approach to provide competitive financing for our dealers and customers.

"First, we have an excellent, long-standing relationship with Ally Financial (formerly GMAC) and they continue to play an important role in our business," said Tom Wilkinson. "In addition, we have relationships with other major institutions and credit unions that provide additional alternatives. Finally, we are developing relationships with other financial sources on a selective basis for specialized financing needs, such as leasing and subprime financing."

He went on to indicate, "Because the sources we're leveraging today predominantly enjoy the benefit of being deposit-funded institutions, they are stable, cost-efficient providers. Going forward, we believe the auto financing business will continue to evolve and we'll continue to assess our overall needs."

A report for Reuters pointed to J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo as two key candidates GM is in talks with.

While GM executives realize that lender relationships won't have the same benefit of a captive, they apparently see it as a step in the right direction to increasing sales, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ally Financial isn't interested in selling a majority stake in GMAC back to the automaker, which left it to seek other options.

Ultimately, as GM seeks an initial public offering, its management team is looking to position the company so it shows in the best possible light for investors.

Also seeking to ramp up sales, Chrysler recently entered a deal with Santander. It also expanded its relationship with GMAC so the lender dives a bit deeper into the credit spectrum.

Santander specializes in financing customers with FICOs of 650 and below. About 22 percent of Chrysler customers fall into the non-prime category. As for GMAC, how far down it buys in the credit spectrum largely depends on each individual customer's credit history as well as time at residence, time on same job, etc., which is what most finance companies review prior to booking a deal.

When Chrysler announced the Santander deal, SubPrime Auto Finance News asked a spokesperson about management's thoughts on the rumors that GM might seek to buy back GMAC from Ally.

In response, Ralph Kisiel said, "We still have a very good relationship with GMAC as our preferred prime lender. They have expanded to include non-prime business, so customers can now go through Santander or GMAC (to see where they get the best deal). Chrysler is excited about strengthening its relationship with GMAC with the expansion."

Beyond that, he indicated that GMAC is an independent company and Chrysler cannot comment. However, he did note that GMAC financed the largest number of deals for Chrysler in the first quarter.