Allowance for doubtful accounts (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Jan. 31, 2012

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts [Abstract]

Allowance for doubtful accounts

The activity related to our allowance for doubtful accounts for our retail portfolio, wholesale portfolio, and trade and other receivables is summarized as follows:

	Three Months Ended January 31, 2012
	Retail Portfolio			Wholesale Portfolio		Trade and Other Receivables			Total
(in millions)
Allowance for doubtful accounts, at beginning of period	$	31		$	2	$	17		$	50
Provision for doubtful accounts, net of recoveries	(2		)	1		1			—
Charge-off of accounts(A)	(1		)	—		(2		)	(3		)
Allowance for doubtful accounts, at end of period	$	28		$	3	$	16		$	47

	Three Months Ended January 31, 2011
	Retail Portfolio			Wholesale Portfolio		Trade and Other Receivables		Total
(in millions)
Allowance for doubtful accounts, at beginning of period	$	58		$	2	$	36	$	96
Provision for doubtful accounts, net of recoveries	(2		)	—		2		—
Charge-off of accounts(A)	(2		)	—		—		(2		)
Allowance for doubtful accounts, at end of period	$	54		$	2	$	38	$	94

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(A) We repossess sold and leased vehicles on defaulted finance receivables and leases, and place them into Inventories. Losses recognized at the time of repossession and charged against the allowance for doubtful accounts were $1 million and $3 million for the three months ended January 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Impaired financing receivables

Information regarding impaired finance receivables is as follows:

	As of
	January 31, 2012						October 31, 2011
	Retail Portfolio		Wholesale Portfolio		Total		Retail Portfolio		Wholesale Portfolio		Total
(in millions)
Impaired finance receivables with specific loss reserves	$	17	$	—	$	17	$	15	$	—	$	15
Impaired finance receivables without specific loss reserves	1		—		1		2		—		2
Specific loss reserves on impaired finance receivables	10		—		10		10		—		10
Finance receivables on non-accrual status	12		—		12		14		—		14

Aging analysis for gross finance receivables

The Company uses the aging of our receivables as well as other inputs when assessing credit quality. The aging analysis for finance receivables is summarized as follows:

	As of
	January 31, 2012						October 31, 2011
	Retail Portfolio		Wholesale Portfolio		Total		Retail Portfolio		Wholesale Portfolio		Total
(in millions)
Current	$	1,336	$	1,258	$	2,594	$	1,515	$	1,328	$	2,843
30-90 days past due	32		6		38		85		5		90
Over 90 days past due	14		1		15		13		1		14
Total finance receivables	$	1,382	$	1,265	$	2,647	$	1,613	$	1,334	$	2,947