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GM CEO Ed Whitacre says automaker considering repaying its $6.7 billion government loan in one lump sum, rather than quarterly payments.

GM 2012: Future cars

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — General Motors is considering repaying all of its $6.7 billion in government loans in one lump sum, rather than through quarterly payments as currently planned, Chief Executive Ed Whitacre told journalists during an online press briefing Tuesday.

The loans are only a small fraction of the roughly $50 billion of direct support the automaker received from the U.S. Treasury as the government worked to keep the company from going out of business over the last 12 months.

Treasury received 61% of GM’s common shares in return for most of the money, as well as $2.1 billion in preferred shares in order not to burden the company with too much debt as it came out of bankruptcy.