Variable Interest Entity - Additional Information (Detail) (Cabot Credit Management [Member], Janus Holdings [Member])	Jul. 02, 2013
Cabot Credit Management [Member] \| Janus Holdings [Member]
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Percentage of equity interest acquired	50.10%

Business Acquisition Percentage Of Equity Interests Acquired

No definition available.

Name:	ecpg_BusinessAcquisitionPercentageOfEquityInterestsAcquired
Namespace Prefix:	ecpg_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant