Investment Securities (Investment) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended																														9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012 Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Debt Securities [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Debt Securities [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Debt Securities [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Debt Securities [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Domestic Corporate Debt Securities [Member] Subsidiaries [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Domestic Corporate Debt Securities [Member] Subsidiaries [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Domestic Corporate Debt Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Domestic Corporate Debt Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 US States and Political Subdivisions Debt Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 US States and Political Subdivisions Debt Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Residential Mortgage Backed Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Residential Mortgage Backed Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Asset-backed Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Asset-backed Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Foreign Corporate Debt Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Foreign Corporate Debt Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Foreign Government Debt Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Foreign Government Debt Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 US Treasury and Government [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 US Treasury and Government [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Retained Interest [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Retained Interest [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Available-for-sale Securities [Member] Subsidiaries [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Available-for-sale Securities [Member] Subsidiaries [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Available-for-sale Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Available-for-sale Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Trading Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Trading Securities [Member] Subsidiaries GECC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Consolidation, Eliminations [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Consolidation, Eliminations [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Consolidation, Eliminations [Member] Amortized Cost [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Consolidation, Eliminations [Member] Amortized Cost [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Consolidation, Eliminations [Member] Estimated Fair Value [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Consolidation, Eliminations [Member] Estimated Fair Value [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Sub Total [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Sub Total [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Sub Total [Member] Amortized Cost [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Sub Total [Member] Amortized Cost [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Sub Total [Member] Estimated Fair Value [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Sub Total [Member] Estimated Fair Value [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Sub Total [Member] Subsidiaries [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Sub Total [Member] Subsidiaries [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Total [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Total [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Total [Member] Amortized Cost [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Total [Member] Amortized Cost [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Total [Member] Estimated Fair Value [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Total [Member] Estimated Fair Value [Member]
Investment [Line Items]
Investment securities amortized cost													$ 1	$ 0	$ 20,264	$ 20,748	$ 4,032	$ 3,027	$ 2,360	$ 2,711	$ 2,975	$ 2,913	$ 5,588	$ 5,102	$ 2,550	$ 2,414	$ 1,812	$ 2,488	$ 3,480	$ 3,974	$ 27	$ 25	$ 26	$ 18	$ 480	$ 713															$ 27	$ 18
Investment securities gross unrealized gains													0	0	4,242	3,432	579	350	205	184	230	162	68	32	163	126	149	129	96	84	2	10	0	0	110	75			0	0					5,844	4,584					0	0	5,844	4,584
Investment securities gross unrealized loss													0	0	327	410	120	143	141	286	126	247	111	164	134	207	4	86	0	0	0	0	0	0	17	38			0	0					980	1,581					0	0	980	1,581
Investment securities estimated fair value													1	0	24,179	23,770	4,491	3,234	2,424	2,609	3,079	2,828	5,545	4,970	2,579	2,333	1,957	2,531	3,576	4,058	29	35	26	18	573	750															27	18
Trading Securities																																					263	241
Gross unrealized gains																																					0	0
Gross unrealized loss																																					0	0
Trading Securities, Fair Value Disclosure																																					263	241
Marketable Securities																																									(3)	(3)	(3)	(3)			43,831	44,356	48,695	47,359					43,855	44,371	48,719	47,374
Net pre-tax gains (loss) on trading securities	1	(29)	37	26
Marketable securities OTTI amounts	25	86	90	270
Cumulative impairments recognized in earnings associated with debt securities									578	726	561	500
Marketable securities OTTI recorded in AOCI		18	1	84
Marketable Securities, Realized Loss, Other than Temporary Impairments, Amount	25	68	89	186	25	68	89	186
Incremental Charges On Previously Impaired Investment Securities	13	23	25	104
Other Than Temporary Impairment Related To Equity Securities		6	24	16
Other Than Temporary First Time Impairments Of Investment Securities Recognized In Earnings	0	37	10	57
Other Than Temporary Impairment Related To Securities Subsequently Sold	39	1	209	42
Proceeds from Sale of Available-for-sale Securities	$ 2,696	$ 3,466	$ 9,200	$ 13,438