Note 4 - Consumer Receivables Acquired for Liquidation - Collections Received Less Commissions and Direct Costs (Details) - USD ($)		3 Months Ended
		Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Gross collections (1)	[1]	$ 9,911,000	$ 11,411,000
Commissions and fees (2)	[2]	4,129,000	4,118,000
Net collections		$ 5,782,000	$ 7,293,000

[1] Gross collections include: collections from third-party collection agencies and attorneys, collections from in-house efforts, and collections represented by account sales.

[2] Commissions and fees are the contractual commission earned by third party collection agencies and attorneys, and direct costs associated with the collection effort, generally court costs. Includes a 3% fee charged by a servicer on gross collections received by the Company in connection with the Portfolio Purchase. Such arrangement was consummated in December 2007. The fee is charged for asset location, skip tracing and ultimately suing debtors in connection with this portfolio purchase.