Note 12 - Borrowings and Financing Activities - FHLB Advances (Details) $ in Thousands	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2021 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($)
FHLB advances	$ 172,649	$ 176,483
Federal Home Loan Bank, Advances, Maturity Period, Fixed Rate	90 days
FHLB Advances
FHLB advances	$ 172,649	176,483
Federal Home Loan Bank, Advances, Weighted Average Interest Rate	0.87%
Minimum \| FHLB Advances
Federal Home Loan Bank, Ratio of Market Value of Collateral to Advances	1.03
Maximum \| FHLB Advances
Federal Home Loan Bank, Ratio of Market Value of Collateral to Advances	1.14
Fixed maturities AFS and trading securities \| Debt securities
Federal Home Loan Bank, Advances, General Debt Obligations, Disclosures, Collateral Pledged	$ 199,500	$ 188,000

The ratio of the market value of the collateralized eligible assets to the principal balance of the FHLB advances

No definition available.

Name:	rdn_FederalHomeLoanBankRatioofMarketValueofCollateraltoAdvances
Namespace Prefix:	rdn_
Data Type:	xbrli:pureItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of borrowings as of the balance sheet date from the Federal Home Loan Bank, which are primarily used to cover shortages in the required reserve balance and liquidity shortages.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 470
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6479118&loc=d3e64650-112822

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AdvancesFromFederalHomeLoanBanks
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the collateral pledged in support of federal home loan bank advances outstanding.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 470
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (d)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123599511&loc=d3e64711-112823

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 470
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6479118&loc=d3e64650-112822

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FederalHomeLoanBankAdvancesGeneralDebtObligationsDisclosuresCollateralPledged1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Maturity period on fixed rate advances made and reported by Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank), in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FederalHomeLoanBankAdvancesMaturityPeriodFixedRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Weighted average interest rate on advances made and reported by Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank).

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FederalHomeLoanBankAdvancesWeightedAverageInterestRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	dtr-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis=us-gaap_FederalHomeLoanBankCertificatesAndObligationsFHLBMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MinimumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_InvestmentTypeAxis=rdn_FixedMaturitiesAFSAndTradingSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_DebtSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: