The net loss incurred due to the debt refinancing charges of $620m related to the prepayment of $6.5bn of high cost debt, while the year-ago period included debt refinancing charges of $46m.
For the quarter ended 30 March 2012, its pre-tax income excluding debt refinancing charges stood at $214m, up from $178m in the year ago quarter.
CIT chairman and chief executive officer John Thain said the company made further progress this quarter positioning it for profitability and growth.
"We grew commercial assets and significantly advanced the transformation of our funding profile as we successfully issued unsecured debt and redeemed legacy high cost debt, which caused the majority of our debt to become unsecured," said Thain.
"CIT Bank online deposits surpassed $1.1 billion and we expanded our online deposit product offerings. We will continue to focus on improving our core profitability as we work to meet the financing needs of our small business and middle market clients."
The decline in pre-tax earnings in all segments from both the first and fourth quarters of 2011, resulted mainly from higher FSA interest expense related to the prepayment of high cost debt.
As of 31 March 2012, its total assets were $44.1bn, declined by $1.1bn from December 2011, and $6.9bn from March 2011 period.
