Long-term Debt (Details)						12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010	Nov. 30, 2010 USD ($)	Nov. 30, 2010 Predecessor company	Dec. 31, 2012 Retail Notes USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Medium Term Notes USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Euro Denominated Notes USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Euro denominated note, one EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2012 Euro denominated note, two EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2012 Secured Term Loan Springleaf Financial Funding Company USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Securitizations USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior debt USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Senior debt USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 Senior debt	Nov. 30, 2010 Senior debt Predecessor company	Dec. 31, 2012 Junior Subordinated Debt (Hybrid debt) USD ($) item	Sep. 30, 2012 Junior Subordinated Debt (Hybrid debt)	Dec. 31, 2011 Junior Subordinated Debt (Hybrid debt) USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 Junior Subordinated Debt (Hybrid debt)	Dec. 31, 2012 Junior Subordinated Debt (Hybrid debt) Maximum	Nov. 30, 2010 Junior Subordinated Debt (Hybrid debt) Predecessor company
Long-term debt
Carrying Value	$ 12,454,316,000	$ 12,885,392,000		$ 14,965,669,000		$ 522,416,000	$ 4,162,674,000	$ 854,093,000			$ 3,765,249,000	$ 2,978,338,000	$ 12,282,770,000	$ 12,713,870,000			$ 171,546,000		$ 171,522,000
Fair Value	12,912,712,000	11,719,337,000											12,702,712,000	11,579,337,000			210,000,000		140,000,000
Weighted average interest rates on long-term debt (as a percent)	8.25%	8.83%	9.41%		6.10%								8.09%	8.68%	9.27%	5.97%	12.26%		12.26%	12.26%		6.17%
Weighted average interest rates on debt (as a percent)	7.54%	8.49%											5.52%	8.33%			12.26%		12.26%
Principal maturities of long-term debt by type of debt
Contractual interest rate, minimum (as a percent)						4.25%	5.40%	3.25%				1.57%
Interest rates (as a percent)											5.50%						6.00%
Contractual interest rate, maximum (as a percent)						9.00%	6.90%	4.13%				6.00%
First quarter 2013	473,372,000					41,742,000		431,630,000
Second quarter 2013	539,003,000					69,983,000	469,020,000
Third quarter 2013	42,551,000					42,551,000
Fourth quarter 2013	419,539,000					2,903,000		416,636,000
2013	1,474,465,000					157,179,000	469,020,000	848,266,000
2014	357,976,000					357,976,000
2015	797,679,000					47,679,000	750,000,000
2016	375,000,000						375,000,000
2017-2067	7,400,000,000						3,300,000,000				3,750,000,000						350,000,000
Securitizations	2,969,132,000											2,969,132,000
Total principal maturities	13,374,252,000					562,834,000	4,894,020,000	848,266,000			3,750,000,000	2,969,132,000					350,000,000
Face amount of each issuance of debt									345,200,000	323,400,000	3,750,000,000
Amount of the subsidiary's stock that may be used to secure debt											$ 167,900,000
Tangible equity to tangible managed assets (as a percent)																					5.50%
Average fixed charge ratio																					0.0110
Number of trailing quarters																	4
Actual average fixed charge ratio (as a percent)																		0.74%
Tangible equity to tangible managed assets ratio (as a percent)																		8.72%