Finance Receivables (Details 7) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020	Sep. 30, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Customer
Financing Receivable, Past Due
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual With an Allowance	$ 585	$ 585
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual Without an Allowance	21	21
91 Plus, Still Accruing	52	52	$ 29
Interest income recognized for finance receivables on non-accrual status	2	8
Recorded Investment, Non-accrual Finance Receivables			727
Customer \| North America
Financing Receivable, Past Due
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual With an Allowance	82	82
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual Without an Allowance	1	1
91 Plus, Still Accruing	28	28	15
Recorded Investment, Non-accrual Finance Receivables			44
Customer \| EAME
Financing Receivable, Past Due
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual With an Allowance	137	137
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual Without an Allowance	0	0
91 Plus, Still Accruing	1	1	4
Recorded Investment, Non-accrual Finance Receivables			165
Customer \| Asia/Pacific
Financing Receivable, Past Due
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual With an Allowance	26	26
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual Without an Allowance	0	0
91 Plus, Still Accruing	13	13	8
Recorded Investment, Non-accrual Finance Receivables			21
Customer \| Mining
Financing Receivable, Past Due
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual With an Allowance	38	38
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual Without an Allowance	1	1
91 Plus, Still Accruing	10	10	0
Recorded Investment, Non-accrual Finance Receivables			47
Customer \| Latin America
Financing Receivable, Past Due
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual With an Allowance	95	95
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual Without an Allowance	2	2
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0	2
Recorded Investment, Non-accrual Finance Receivables			89
Customer \| Caterpillar Power Finance
Financing Receivable, Past Due
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual With an Allowance	207	207
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual Without an Allowance	17	17
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0	0
Recorded Investment, Non-accrual Finance Receivables			361
Dealer
Financing Receivable, Past Due
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Interest income recognized for finance receivables on non-accrual status	0	0
Dealer \| Latin America
Financing Receivable, Past Due
Amortized Cost, Non-accrual With an Allowance	$ 78	$ 78
Recorded Investment, Non-accrual Finance Receivables			$ 78

Financing receivables that are 91 days or more past due and still accruing.

No definition available.

Name:	cfsc_FinancingReceivable91DaysPastDueandStillAccruing
Namespace Prefix:	cfsc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of interest income on financing receivable on nonaccrual status.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 326
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 16
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121599337&loc=SL82919258-210447

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableNonaccrualInterestIncome
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of financing receivable on nonaccrual status with no allowance for credit loss.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 326
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 16
-Subparagraph (d)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121599337&loc=SL82919258-210447

+ Details

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

- Definition

Amount of financing receivable on nonaccrual status.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 7
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121611835&loc=d3e5111-111524

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 326
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 16
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121599337&loc=SL82919258-210447

+ Details

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

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

- Definition

Reflects the carrying amount of loans deemed to be questionable as to collection on which interest is continuing to be earned or accrued.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LoansAndLeasesReceivableImpairedNonperformingAccrualOfInterest
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: