GMAC Financial Services, a lender that is majority-owned by the U.S. government after multiple bailouts, posted its first profit since the fourth quarter of 2008 on Monday, as the company started to recover from lingering bad mortgage assets.

That profit of $162 million for the first quarter compared with a quarterly net loss of $675 million a year earlier.

GMAC, one of the largest car loan companies in the United States, said it will change its name to Ally Financial Inc on May 10.

GMAC's current name is affiliated with General Motors Co , and its right to use that trademark expires in 2016.

(Reporting by Maria Aspan, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)