Related Party Transactions (Details) (USD $)					0 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	11 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Aug. 31, 2012 Swap AIGFP item	Jul. 31, 2012 Swap AIGFP item	Oct. 26, 2012 SLAH	Oct. 02, 2012 SLAH	Dec. 19, 2012 SLFI	Dec. 31, 2010 SLFI	Nov. 30, 2010 SLFI	Dec. 31, 2012 SLFI	Dec. 31, 2011 SLFI	Jan. 11, 2013 SLFI	Jul. 11, 2012 SLFI	Jan. 10, 2012 SLFI	Aug. 31, 2012 SLFI AIGFP	Dec. 31, 2012 SLFI AIGFP	Jul. 31, 2012 SLFI AIGFP	Dec. 31, 2012 SLFI SLFSSC	Aug. 31, 2012 SLFI SLFSSC	Dec. 31, 2012 SLFI SLFSSC	Dec. 31, 2012 SGSC SFMC item	Dec. 31, 2012 SGSC SFMC Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 SGSC SFMC Services Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 SGSC SFMC License Agreement	Dec. 31, 2012 SGSC SFMC Building lease item	Dec. 31, 2012 SGSC SFMC Building lease Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 SGSC SFMC Building lease Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Second Street Funding Corporation	Dec. 31, 2011 Second Street Funding Corporation
Related party transactions
Note receivable from SLFI										$ 538,000,000	$ 538,000,000
Interest receivable on note	89,751,000	97,442,000								1,500,000	11,800,000
Interest rate for the unpaid principal balance										prime rate
Interest revenue on note receivable								1,900,000	16,400,000	17,300,000	17,400,000
Amount that will be received by counterparty																		11,000,000	25,000,000	11,000,000
Receivables from parent and affiliates	16,196,000	24,778,000																										16,200,000	24,800,000
Annual fee rate on average monthly unreimbursed amount (as a percent)																		8.00%	8.00%
Amount advanced						20,000,000
Amount that can be advanced						50,000,000
Annual interest rate for principal balance (as a percent)						6.00%
Advances repaid					20,000,000
Fees paid										6,900,000										600,000
Additional amount paid towards settlement																		5,800,000
Resulting amount payable towards settlement																		30,800,000		30,800,000
Interest payable																		100,000		100,000
Capital contributions received to satisfy hybrid debt semi-annual interest payments												10,500,000	10,500,000	10,500,000
Amount of cash collateral posted by related party																40,000,000	60,000,000
Number of positions				2
Number of positions terminated			1
Reduction in cash collateral															20,000,000
Fees payable	30,750,000									300,000												1,900,000	1,900,000
Service fee expenses																						1,900,000
Number of employees who were reassigned																					1,000
Percentage of allocated cost of service																							100.00%
Term of agreement																							5 years	5 years	10 years
Notice period																							1 year	1 year	1 year
Number of buildings leased																									6
Percentage of actual cost incurred																								100.00%
Margin on the systems and software (as a percent)																								7.00%
Annual rental fees																									3,700,000
Percentage of the rentable square footage permitted to be assigned																										50.00%
Renewal period of term																									5 years
Period of notice prior to specified cancellation date																											9 months
Period of failure to pay rent after notice																									10 days
Percentage of common stock sold							100.00%
Sale of subsidiary's common stock							$ 600,000