NEW YORK, June 1 (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings on Monday cut its ratings on CIT Group Inc's CIT.N senior debt, and said it may also cut the commercial lender's long-term issuer default rating and subordinated debt ratings, citing the company's need to obtain new funding to repay debt maturing in June.

CIT, which lends to Main Street and small and medium-sized businesses, converted to a bank holding company in the fourth quarter to qualify for U.S. government funds, but the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) has yet to approve its application.

If the company does not get approval it will need to seek alternative sources of secured funding to repay $1.5 billion of debt maturing in June 2009, Fitch said.

This would be detrimental to its unsecured lenders and would be unlikely to support intermediate debt maturities, Fitch said, adding it expects to cut CIT's issuer default rating by several notches under this scenario.

If CIT gets FDIC approval its ratings may still come under pressure as the company faces a difficult operating environment, Fitch added.

Fitch cut CIT's senior debt one notch to BB, two steps below investment grade, from BB-plus. The rating agency may cut CIT's long-term issuer default rating from BB-plus, and its subordinated debt from BB-minus, three steps below investment grade. (Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Leslie Adler)