VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES (Schedule of Carrying Value of Assets and Liabilities of Consolidated VIEs) (Details) RSO (RSO [Member], USD $)	Sep. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
ASSETS
Restricted cash	$ 80,633,000	$ 61,372,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	110,376,000	105,846,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	1,405,788,000	1,219,569,000
Loans held for sale	36,674,000	2,376,000
Interest receivable	8,066,000	5,627,000
Prepaid assets	217,000	247,000
Principal paydown receivable	34,100,000	6,821,000
Other assets	(12,000)	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE-RSO	1,675,842,000	1,401,858,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	1,214,923,000	1,070,339,000
Accrued interest expense	1,280,000	918,000
Derivatives, at fair value	7,958,000	10,191,000
Accounts payable and other liabilities	(418,000)	1,604,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE-RSO	1,223,743,000	1,083,052,000
RSO [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	80,633,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	110,376,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	1,405,788,000
Loans held for sale	36,674,000
Interest receivable	8,066,000
Prepaid assets	217,000
Principal paydown receivable	34,100,000
Other assets	(12,000)
Total assets of consolidated VIE-RSO	1,675,842,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	1,214,923,000
Accrued interest expense	1,280,000
Derivatives, at fair value	7,958,000
Accounts payable and other liabilities	(418,000)
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE-RSO	1,223,743,000
Restricted cash available for reinvestment in certain of the CDOs	3,600,000
RSO [Member] | Apidos CDO I Ltd. [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	15,366,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	3,452,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	9,896,000
Loans held for sale	35,740,000
Interest receivable	(268,000)
Prepaid assets	6,000
Principal paydown receivable	0
Other assets	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE-RSO	64,192,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	47,848,000
Accrued interest expense	218,000
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	22,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE-RSO	48,088,000
RSO [Member] | Apidos CDO III Ltd. [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	3,529,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	3,947,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	87,750,000
Loans held for sale	364,000
Interest receivable	443,000
Prepaid assets	7,000
Principal paydown receivable	0
Other assets	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE-RSO	96,040,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	83,621,000
Accrued interest expense	46,000
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	48,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE-RSO	83,715,000
RSO [Member] | Apidos Cinco CDO Ltd [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	24,663,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	11,313,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	274,442,000
Loans held for sale	570,000
Interest receivable	959,000
Prepaid assets	28,000
Principal paydown receivable	0
Other assets	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE-RSO	311,975,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	284,160,000
Accrued interest expense	289,000
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	25,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE-RSO	284,474,000
RSO [Member] | Apidos CLO VIII Ltd. [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	5,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	0
Loans, pledged as collateral	0
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	0
Prepaid assets	0
Principal paydown receivable	0
Other assets	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE-RSO	5,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	0
Accrued interest expense	0
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	195,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE-RSO	195,000
RSO [Member] | Whitney CLO I, Ltd. [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	80,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	0
Loans, pledged as collateral	0
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	0
Prepaid assets	0
Principal paydown receivable	0
Other assets	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE-RSO	80,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	0
Accrued interest expense	0
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	0
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE-RSO	0
RSO [Member] | Resource Real Estate Funding CDO 2006-1 [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	20,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	11,359,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	128,369,000
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	2,471,000
Prepaid assets	100,000
Principal paydown receivable	25,803,000
Other assets	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE-RSO	168,122,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	105,841,000
Accrued interest expense	44,000
Derivatives, at fair value	1,044,000
Accounts payable and other liabilities	11,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE-RSO	106,940,000
RSO [Member] | Resource Real Estate Funding CDO 2007-1 [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	250,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	67,784,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	204,978,000
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	2,015,000
Prepaid assets	76,000
Principal paydown receivable	8,297,000
Other assets	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE-RSO	283,400,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	137,004,000
Accrued interest expense	99,000
Derivatives, at fair value	6,914,000
Accounts payable and other liabilities	1,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE-RSO	144,018,000
RSO [Member] | RCC CRE Notes 2013 [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	3,337,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	0
Loans, pledged as collateral	267,963,000
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	1,114,000
Prepaid assets	0
Principal paydown receivable	0
Other assets	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE-RSO	272,414,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	223,897,000
Accrued interest expense	172,000
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	0
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE-RSO	224,069,000
RSO [Member] | RCC CRE Notes 2014 [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	0
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	0
Loans, pledged as collateral	349,381,000
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	1,332,000
Prepaid assets	0
Principal paydown receivable	0
Other assets	(12,000)
Total assets of consolidated VIE-RSO	350,701,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	231,365,000
Accrued interest expense	123,000
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	10,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE-RSO	231,498,000
RSO [Member] | Moselle [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	33,383,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	12,521,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	83,009,000
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	0
Prepaid assets	0
Principal paydown receivable	0
Other assets	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE-RSO	128,913,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	101,187,000
Accrued interest expense	289,000
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	(730,000)
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE-RSO	$ 100,746,000