TOTAL EQUITY (Details 3) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended						12 Months Ended				1 Months Ended							12 Months Ended	20 Months Ended			1 Months Ended				12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended
	Nov. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	May 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012 Common Stock	Sep. 30, 2012 Common Stock	Aug. 31, 2012 Common Stock	May 31, 2012 Common Stock	Mar. 31, 2012 Common Stock	Nov. 30, 2011 Common Stock	May 31, 2011 Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2012 Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2011 Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2009 Common Stock	Sep. 30, 2012 Treasury Stock	Aug. 31, 2012 Treasury Stock	May 31, 2012 Treasury Stock	Mar. 31, 2012 Treasury Stock	Dec. 31, 2012 Treasury Stock	Dec. 31, 2011 Treasury Stock	Nov. 29, 2010 Equity Units	Nov. 23, 2010 Equity Units item	May 31, 2008 Equity Units	Dec. 31, 2012 Equity Units	Dec. 31, 2011 Equity Units item	May 31, 2008 Series B-1 Debentures	May 31, 2008 Series B-2 Debentures	May 31, 2008 Series B-3 Debentures	Dec. 31, 2010 Additional Paid-in Capital	Dec. 31, 2011 Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2011 Series E Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2009 Series E Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2011 Series F Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Series F Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2011 Series C Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2009 Series C Preferred Stock
Rollforward of preferred stock
Balance																																						$ 71,983,000,000	$ 69,784,000,000	$ 41,605,000,000	$ 41,605,000,000	$ 7,378,000,000	$ 5,179,000,000	$ 23,000,000,000	$ 23,000,000,000
AIG Series F drawdown									20,292,000,000	2,199,000,000																													2,199,000,000				2,199,000,000
Shares Exchanged																																						(71,983,000,000)		(41,605,000,000)		(7,378,000,000)		(23,000,000,000)
Balance																																							71,983,000,000		41,605,000,000		7,378,000,000		23,000,000,000
Share Issuances and Repurchases
Interest ownership by the Department of the Treasury before stock offering and sale (as a percent)											92.00%
Common stock owned by the Department of the Treasury before public offering (in shares)											1,700,000,000
Initial public offering price (in dollars per share)												$ 32.50	$ 32.50	$ 30.50	$ 30.50	$ 29.00		$ 29.00		$ 32.50
Common stock sold by the Department of the Treasury (in shares)												234,169,156	636,923,075	188,524,590	188,524,589	206,896,552		200,000,000		1,655,037,962
Proceeds from sale of common stock by the Department of the Treasury												7,610,000,000	20,700,000,000	5,750,000,000	5,750,000,000	6,000,000,000		5,800,000,000		51,610,000,000
Shares repurchased (in shares)								421,228,855	3,074,031														153,846,153	98,360,656	65,573,770	103,448,276	421,228,855	3,074,031
Shares repurchased								13,000,000,000	70,000,000														5,000,000,000	3,000,000,000	2,000,000,000	3,000,000,000	13,000,000,000	70,000,000
Aggregate purchase amount																	1,000,000,000
Equity Units
Sale of equity units (in shares)																															78,400,000
Proceeds from the sale of equity units, per share																															$ 75
Proceeds from sale of equity units																															5,880,000,000
Cash per equity unit exchange under stock purchase contract (in dollars per share)																																$ 25
Present value of future contract adjustment payments related to issuance of equity units																																431,000,000
Future contract adjustment payments expressed as a percentage of the stated amount																																2.71%
Amount of debt issued																																		1,960,000,000	1,960,000,000	1,960,000,000
Interest rate (as a percent)																																		5.67%	5.82%	5.89%
Maximum number of equity units that the entity has commenced an offer to exchange under stock purchase contract (in shares)																														74,480,000
Common stock per equity unit exchange (in shares)																														0.09867
Cash per equity unit exchange (in dollars per share)																														$ 3.2702
Number of transactions in relation to equity units exchange offer																														2
Number of equity units exchanged																													49,474,600
Equity units exchange, common stock portion (in shares)																													4,881,667
Equity units exchange, cash portion																													162,000,000
Number of equity units outstanding (in shares)																																28,925,400
Net loss on extinguishment of debt	(484,000,000)	(41,000,000)	11,000,000	21,000,000	(484,000,000)	79,000,000	3,313,000,000	9,000,000	2,847,000,000	104,000,000																			104,000,000
Increase (Decrease) to equity on execution of the Exchange Offer										3,657,000,000									12,000,000										3,700,000,000								3,645,000,000
Number of series of debentures remarketed																																	3
Retirement of debentures																																	$ 2,200,000,000
Common stock issued in connection with settlement of the stock purchase contract portion of the Equity Units (in shares)		1,906,611,680			1,906,568,099			1,906,611,680	1,906,568,099			1,906,611,680							147,124,067	1,906,611,680	1,906,568,099	141,732,263											1,800,000,000