Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Reconciliations of Statutory U.S. Federal Income Tax Rates to Our Effective Tax Rate for Continuing Operations

Reconciliations of the statutory U.S. federal income tax rates to our effective tax rate for continuing operations follow:

	Years Ended December 31,
	2012			2011			2010
Statutory rate		35.0	%		35.0	%		35.0	%
State tax, net of federal benefit		0.1			.8			1.6
Non-deductible goodwill		—			—			4.7
Other, net		(0.5	)		(.5	)		(.7	)
Effective tax rate		34.6	%		35.3	%		40.6	%

Components of Provision for Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

Income tax expense consists of:

	December 31,
(Dollars in millions)	2012			2011			2010
Continuing operations current provision/(benefit):
Federal	$	474		$	436		$	248
State		27			38			36
Foreign		—			—			—
Total continuing operations current provision/(benefit)		501			474			284
Continuing operations deferred provision/(benefit):
Federal		23			(121	)		225
State		(26	)		(25	)		(9	)
Foreign		—			—			—
Total continuing operations deferred provision/(benefit)		(3	)		(146	)		216
Continuing operations provision for income tax expense/(benefit)		498			328			500
Discontinued operations current provision/(benefit):
Federal	$	1		$	(49	)	$	34
State		—			(5	)		8
Foreign		—			—			—
Total discontinued operations current provision/(benefit)		1			(54	)		42
Discontinued operations deferred provision/(benefit):
Federal		(2	)		68			(67	)
State		—			6			(6	)
Foreign		—			—			—
Total discontinued operations deferred provision/(benefit)		(2	)		74			(73	)
Discontinued operations provision for income tax expense/(benefit)		(1	)		20			(31	)
Provision for income tax expense/(benefit)	$	497		$	348		$	469

Schedule of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

The tax effect of temporary differences that give rise to deferred tax assets and liabilities include the following:

	December 31,
(Dollars in millions)	2012		2011
Deferred tax assets:
Loan reserves	$	940	$	959
Market value adjustments on student loans, investments and derivatives		671		595
Stock-based compensation plans		77		78
Deferred revenue		60		62
Operating loss and credit carryovers		38		49
Accrued expenses not currently deductible		34		51
Other		4		48
Total deferred tax assets		1,824		1,842
Deferred tax liabilities:
Gains/(losses) on repurchased debt		306		297
Other		65		74
Total deferred tax liabilities		371		371
Net deferred tax assets	$	1,453	$	1,471

Summary of Changes in Unrecognized Tax Benefits

The following table summarizes changes in unrecognized tax benefits:

	December 31,
(Dollars in millions)	2012			2011			2010
Unrecognized tax benefits at beginning of year	$	45.9		$	41.7		$	104.4
Increases resulting from tax positions taken during a prior period		20.0			20.5			13.1
Decreases resulting from tax positions taken during a prior period		(18.0	)		(2.1	)		(47.5	)
Increases/(decreases) resulting from tax positions taken during the current period		11.3			(9.1	)		(2.5	)
Decreases related to settlements with taxing authorities		(14.7	)		—			(87.6	)
Increases related to settlements with taxing authorities		—			0.4			69.1
Reductions related to the lapse of statute of limitations		(3.3	)		(5.5	)		(7.3	)
Unrecognized tax benefits at end of year	$	41.2		$	45.9		$	41.7