Borrowings - Corporate Revolving Line of Credit (Details) - Revolving credit agreement - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020	Mar. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2019
Short-term debt
Interest expense	$ 503	$ 485
Unused amount	150,000		$ 150,000
Cash pledged to secure corporate revolver	$ 773,361		$ 52,599

Represents the amount of debt issuance and non utilization fees.

No definition available.

Name:	pfsi_DebtIssuanceAndNonUtilizationFeesAmount
Namespace Prefix:	pfsi_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of unused borrowing capacity under the long-term financing arrangement that is available to the entity as of the balance sheet date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.22(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentUnusedBorrowingCapacityAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Carrying amount as of the balance sheet date of loans that have been pledged as collateral for borrowings. If the secured party has the right by contract or custom to sell or re-pledge the collateral, then the debtor reclassifies that asset and report that asset in its statement of financial position separately from other assets not so encumbered.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 860
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66007379&loc=d3e113888-111728

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118936363&loc=d3e5086-111524

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LoansPledgedAsCollateral
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShortTermDebtLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityAxis=us-gaap_RevolvingCreditFacilityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: