Statutory Accounting (Details) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2016	Mar. 31, 2015
Essent Guaranty
Dividends Restrictions
Statutory net income	$ 48,486,000	$ 40,174,000
Statutory surplus	532,199,000	471,240,000
Contingency reserve liability	353,063,000	211,296,000
Increase in contingency reserve	38,000,000
Essent PA
Dividends Restrictions
Statutory net income	3,516,000	4,148,000
Statutory surplus	44,469,000	43,928,000
Contingency reserve liability	29,898,000	$ 19,744,000
Increase in contingency reserve	2,400,000
Essent Re
Dividends Restrictions
Statutory net income	9,437,000
Statutory capital and surplus	225,949,000
Required statutory capital and surplus	$ 1,000,000