U.S. automobile financing firm GMAC is seeking a third financial bailout from the federal government, sources close to the negotiations said.

Treasury and company officials have been in discussions that could result in pushing the government's GMAC holdings from 35 percent to more than 50 percent as GMAC seeks to meet an early November deadline for restructuring its finances, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

GMAC reportedly requires $5.6 billion more capital.

Last spring the government directed GMAC to raise $11.5 billion, the figure a result of stress tests given to 19 bailed out companies.

It was able to meet part of the requirement with a deal to allow $7.5 billion of preferred shock to be automatically converted to common stock.

The government already owns 35 percent of GMAC, due to bailout funds and a restructuring of General Motors (GM.UL) Co. over the summer.

The recession hurt GMAC. But the company's Residential Capital unit that invested in the subprime mortgage market contributed substantially to the company's demise.