(CNN) - Campaign finance reports to be released later this week will show Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney over $10 million in debt, the Romney campaign confirmed to CNN Tuesday, although the debt is a result of federal restrictions on when the campaign can spend its war chest. Romney's campaign took out a loan of $20 million as it approached its party convention last month and saw accessible funds dwindling, sources said. While Romney has been raising general election funds for several months, he could not spend those funds until he officially accepted his party's nomination at the Republican convention.
The loans and debt were first reported Tuesday evening by the National Review Online.
A debt of $15 million will appear on the Federal Election Commission reports, due to be filed by the end of the day Thursday.
But Romney's balance on the loan at this point is approximately $11 million, sources said, although his campaign's financial filings has shown he has enough to cover that.
The campaign used the general election funds as collateral for the loan, and said the FEC has previously allowed campaigns to use general election funds as collateral for loans. Prior campaigns have used as collateral their expected public matching funds, but Romney is not eligible for such funds.
Through the end of July, Romney raised nearly $197 million and spent $166 million. His campaign, the Republican National Committee, and allies ended August with $168 million cash on hand.
