Income Taxes - Schedule of Effective Tax Rates (Detail)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]
Federal provision	35.00%	35.00%
State provision	8.20%	5.80%
State benefit	(2.90%)ecpg_BenefitForStateTaxes	(2.00%)ecpg_BenefitForStateTaxes
Tax reserves	0.10%	0.00%
International benefit	(6.00%)	(3.40%)
Permanent items	0.20%	2.30%
Other	0.00%	0.70%
Effective rate	34.60%	38.40%

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Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation Tax Reserves

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Percentage of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

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Percentage of domestic federal statutory tax rate applicable to pretax income (loss).

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Percentage of the difference between reported income tax expense (benefit) and expected income tax expense (benefit) computed by applying the domestic federal statutory income tax rates to pretax income (loss) from continuing operations applicable to statutory income tax expense (benefit) outside of the country of domicile.

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Percentage of the difference, between reported income tax expense (benefit) and the expected income tax expense (benefit) computed by applying the domestic federal statutory income tax rates to pretax income (loss) from continuing operations, that is attributable to tax exempt income, equity in earnings (loss) of an unconsolidated subsidiary, minority interest income (expense), tax holiday, disposition of a business, disposition of an asset, repatriation of foreign earnings, repatriation of foreign earnings jobs creation act of 2004, change in enacted tax rate, prior year income taxes, change in deferred tax asset valuation allowance, and other adjustments.

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Percentage of the difference between reported income tax expense (benefit) and expected income tax expense (benefit) computed by applying the domestic federal statutory income tax rates to pretax income (loss) from continuing operations applicable to state and local income tax expense (benefit), net of federal tax expense (benefit).

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