Describes the nature of any assets held either as collateral or by third parties that, upon the occurrence of any triggering event or condition under the guarantee, the guarantor can obtain and liquidate to recover all or a portion of the amounts paid under the guarantee.

Name:	pnc_AssetsSecuredByCertainSpecificallyIdentifiedStandbyLettersOfCredit
Namespace Prefix:	pnc
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

Commitments and Guarantees (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	Jun. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011 Financial Standby Letter of Credit [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Recourse Agreements - DUS (FNMA) and FHLMC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Recourse Agreements - DUS (FNMA) and FHLMC [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Total Repurchase and Indemnification Claims [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Total Repurchase and Indemnification Claims [Member]	Jun. 30, 2010 Total Repurchase and Indemnification Claims [Member]
Unfunded commitments - private equity investments	$ 285,000,000
Unfunded commitments - other investments	6,000,000
Standby letters of credit and risk participations in standby letters of credit and bankers' acceptances - Terms outstanding - Minimum			1
Standby letters of credit and risk participations in standby letters of credit and bankers' acceptances - Terms outstanding - Maximum			8
Standby letters of credit and risk participations in standby letters of credit and bankers' acceptances - aggregate maximum amount PNC could be required to make on future payments			14,100,000,000
Standby letters of credit and risk participations in standby letters of credit and bankers' acceptances - remarketing programs			7,400,000,000
Assets secured by certain specifically identified standby letters of credit			1,900,000,000
Standby letters of credit - recourse provisions from third parties			3,400,000,000
Guarantor obligations, current carrying value			253,000,000
Visa indemnification liability	32,000,000
Standby bond purchase agreements to support municipal bond obligations	313,000,000
Other liquidity facilities commitments	145,000,000
Indemnifications - GIS Securities lending transactions - total maximum potential exposure	6,800,000,000
Commercial mortgage recourse obligations - potential exposure				3,900,000,000	4,000,000,000
Commercial mortgage recourse obligations - Unpaid principal balance of loans sold				13,000,000,000	13,200,000,000
Estimated losses on repurchase and indemnification claims						150,000,000	294,000,000	211,000,000
Visa escrow account funding		400,000,000
PNC share of Visa escrow account funding		38,000,000
Repurchase Potential Excess Loss Range Maxmium	$ 54,000,000