CIT Group Inc., the commercial lender seeking to avert collapse, reported a wider-than-expected loss as more customers defaulted on loans.

The ninth consecutive quarterly net loss was $1.62 billion, or $4.30 a share, New York-based CIT said in a regulatory filing. Nine analysts had estimated a per-share loss of $1.53.

CIT Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Peek is negotiating with bondholders and considering asset sales to stave off bankruptcy.

The lender, which provides financing to almost a million small- and mid-sized businesses, has lost more than $5 billion in the past nine quarters as bad debts soared and the company was cut off from the commercial-paper market, its traditional source of funding.

“I don’t think there’s any good news to come in terms of credit quality,” said Sameer Gokhale, an analyst with KBW Inc.