The Treasury has agreed to shell out another $3.79 billion to GMAC Financial Services as part of a third bailout transaction that will give the government a 56 percent ownership stake in the company.

As part of its controlling interest, the Treasury said in a statement that it will be appointing four of the nine directors on GMAC’s board before the company’s annual meeting in April. In addition, GMAC will be subject to executive compensation and corporate governance requirements as a recipient of “exceptional” assistance, the Treasury explained.

The latest round of aid is on top of $12.5 billion GMAC has already received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) – $5 billion last December and $7.5 billion in May. The news comes just as the nation’s largest lenders are settling their TARP debts, and the two banks that also accepted additional bailouts – Bank of America and Citigroup – have been absolved of the “exceptional” assistance stigma.

GMAC’s third bailout arrangement was prompted by the lender’s inability to secure backing from private investors. In May 2009, following the ill-famed bank “stress tests,” federal regulators ordered GMAC to raise an additional $9.1 billion by November or take another government hand-out. At that time, the U.S. Treasury purchased $3.5 billion of GMAC preferred securities in partial satisfaction of the requirement, which left $5.6 billion still lacking.

While all the other banks deemed to have capital deficits filled their holes with private equity, GMAC has not been able to pad its capital cushion on its own. During the first nine months of 2009, GMAC has reported losses of $5.3 billion.

The Treasury noted, though, in its statement that after closer examination, it was determined that GMAC needed only the $3.79 billion ceded to fulfill regulators’ capital requirements, as opposed to the $5.6 billion initially estimated. This $1.8 billion savings was because the restructurings of General Motors and Chrysler caused less disruption to GMAC than banking supervisors had projected, Treasury officials explained.

While most of GMAC’s capital troubles over the past year have been attributed to the deterioration of the auto industry, the majority of the financial company’s new bailout package will be used to shore up its mortgage business unit Residential Capital, LLC (ResCap).

GMAC said in a statement that $2.7 billion of the Treasury’s latest investment will go to ResCap, which according to the latest market statistics from Mortgage Servicing News, is the fifth largest residential mortgage servicer in the country. The funding will allow GMAC to sell off some $2 billion of ResCap’s troubled mortgage-related assets to while it explores “strategic alternatives for the business,” the company explained.

The additional funding provided to GMAC has drawn criticism from lawmakers, particularly Republicans. Rep. Tom Price (R-Georgia) said, “The bailout train is clearly not losing steam in Washington. The federal government should be releasing its grip on financial institutions, not buying more of them.”

But the Treasury said in its statement, “These actions fulfill Treasury’s commitments made in May to GMAC in a manner which protects taxpayers to the greatest extent possible. These actions offer the best chance for GMAC to complete its overall restructuring plan and return to the private capital markets for its debt financing and capital needs in 2010.”