Stock Repurchase Plan	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Stock Repurchase Plan [Abstract]
Stock Repurchase Plan	Note Q — Stock Repurchase Plan Under our current common stock repurchase program, our Board of Directors has authorized the purchase, from time to time, in the open market and privately negotiated transactions, up to an aggregate of $800.0 million of Rent-A-Center common stock. We have repurchased a total of 29,322,753 shares and 23,470,345 shares of Rent-A-Center common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $715.5 million and $551.2 million as of December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively, under this common stock repurchase program. During the year ended December 31, 2011, we repurchased a total of 5,852,408 shares for approximately $164.3 million in cash.

The entire disclosure for an entity's treasury stock, including the average cost per share, carrying basis for each class of treasury stock, description of share repurchase program authorized by an entity's board of directors, the number of shares repurchased, the cost of the shares repurchased, the remaining maximum dollar value of shares available for repurchase under the program, the treatment of the purchase price in excess of the current market value, number of shares held for each class of treasury stock, and other information necessary to a fair presentation.

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