Economists and politicians are divided over just how worrisome the bankruptcy of CIT would be for the US economy. It would be the largest bank to collapse since Washington Mutual last autumn, and some fear it could disrupt the country's tentative recovery from a deep recession.

Yet CIT is not nearly as critical to the financial system as Lehman Brothers, the collapse of which nearly brought Wall Street to its knees in September. CIT offers loans mostly to smaller retailers and manufacturers and does not have the kind of international reach that Lehman did.

CIT has already received $2.3 billion in emergency government loans. The Obama administration has been divided over whether to offer more help, according to US media.