Finance Receivables (Details 6) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) contracts	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($) contracts	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) contracts	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($) contracts	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)
Financing Receivable, Modifications
Remaining commitments	$ 0		$ 0		$ 0
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	22	19	49	37
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 70	$ 57	$ 132	$ 98
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 69	$ 24	$ 126	$ 65
Customer \| North America
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	8	17	8	30
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 5	$ 7	$ 5	$ 13
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 4	$ 7	$ 4	$ 13
Customer \| EAME
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	2	0	21	0
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 10	$ 0	$ 21	$ 0
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 10	$ 0	$ 17	$ 0
Customer \| Asia/Pacific
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	0	0	0	0
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Customer \| Mining
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	1	0	1	1
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 6	$ 0	$ 6	$ 29
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 6	$ 0	$ 6	$ 29
Customer \| Latin America
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	4	0	4	1
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 2	$ 0	$ 2	$ 3
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 2	$ 0	$ 2	$ 3
Customer \| Caterpillar Power Finance
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	7	2	15	5
Pre-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 47	$ 50	$ 98	$ 53
Post-TDR Recorded Investment	$ 47	$ 17	$ 97	$ 20
Dealer
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	0	0	0	0
Caterpillar Purchased Receivables
Finance receivables modified as TDRs
Number of Contracts \| contracts	0	0	0	0

Loan and finance lease receivables modified as TDRs

No definition available.

Name:	cfsc_LoanAndFinanceLeaseReceivablesModifiedAsTdrsAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	cfsc_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of financing receivables that have been modified by troubled debt restructurings.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 33
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84173941&loc=SL6953676-111524

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsNumberOfContracts2
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Post-modification amount of investment in financing receivables modified by troubled debt restructurings.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsPostModificationRecordedInvestment2
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Pre-modification amount of investment in financing receivables modified by troubled debt restructurings.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsPreModificationRecordedInvestment2
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Reflects the unfunded portion of contractual agreements to lend funds to borrowers for loans whose terms have been modified by troubled debt restructuring.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 40
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82895541&loc=d3e18794-111554

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LoansAndLeasesReceivableImpairedCommitmentToLend
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivablePortfolioSegmentAxis=cfsc_CustomerMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=srt_NorthAmericaMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=us-gaap_EMEAMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=srt_AsiaPacificMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=cfsc_MiningMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=srt_LatinAmericaMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=cfsc_CaterpillarPowerFinanceMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivablePortfolioSegmentAxis=cfsc_DealerMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivablePortfolioSegmentAxis=cfsc_CaterpillarPurchasedReceivablesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: