Repurchase Agreements And Other Debt Repurchase Agreements (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Debt Disclosure [Abstract]

Repurchase and Resale Agreements Policy [Policy Text Block]

Repurchase Agreements

We finance the acquisition of securities for our investment portfolio through repurchase transactions under master repurchase agreements. Pursuant to ASC Topic 860, Transfers and Servicing ("ASC 860"), we account for repurchase transactions as collateralized financing transactions, which are carried at their contractual amounts (cost), plus accrued interest, as specified in the respective transactions. Our repurchase agreements have maturities of generally less than one year, but may extend up to five years or more. Interest rates under our repurchase agreements generally correspond to one, three or six month LIBOR plus or minus a fixed spread. The fair value of our repurchase agreements is assumed to equal cost as the interest rates are considered to be at market.