MR Sergieo

Chrysler will refinance to pay off government loans.

Chrysler, which was saved by a government bailout financing package, is going to repay its loans to the U.S. and Canada.

Like a homeowner seeking lower mortgage interest, Chrysler plans to refinance the loans for billions of dollars that the U.S. and Canadian governments provided to the automaker to reorganize in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 rather than forcing it to go out of business.

Chrysler said Thursday that it wants to lower its interest expense by taking out bank loans and selling debt this quarter to repay $5.8 billion it owes the U.S. Treasury and $1.7 billion it owes Canadian government entities.

American taxpayers have already spent more than $13 billion bailing out Chrysler. The Obama administration already forgave more than $4 billion of that debt when the company filed for bankruptcy in 2009. Taxpayers are never getting that money back. But how is Chrysler now paying off the rest of the $7.6 billion they owe the Treasury Department?

The Obama administration’s bailout agreement with Fiat gave the Italian car company a “Incremental Call Option” that allows it to buy up to 16% of Chrysler stock at a reduced price. But in order to exercise the option, Fiat had to first pay back at least $3.5 billion of its loan to the Treasury Department. But Fiat was having trouble getting private banks to lend it the money. Enter Obama Energy Secretary Steven Chu who has signaled that he will approve a fuel-efficient vehicle loan to Chrysler for … wait for it … $3.5 billion.