DEBT AND OTHER OBLIGATIONS (Details) (USD $)	6 Months Ended						1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011		Jun. 30, 2012 Credit facility	Jul. 17, 2012 2012 Credit Facility	Jul. 31, 2012 2012 Credit Facility Administrative agent's prime rate	Jul. 31, 2012 2012 Credit Facility Federal funds rate	Jul. 17, 2012 2012 Credit Facility Federal funds rate	Jul. 31, 2012 2012 Credit Facility LIBOR	Jul. 17, 2012 2012 Credit Facility LIBOR	Jun. 30, 2012 Golden Gate Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate)	Jun. 30, 2012 Golden Gate Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate) Surplus Notes item	Jun. 30, 2012 Golden Gate Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate) Series A1 Surplus Notes	Jun. 30, 2012 Golden Gate Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate) Series A2 Surplus Notes	Jun. 30, 2012 Golden Gate Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate) Series A3 Surplus Notes	Jun. 30, 2012 Golden Gate II Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate II)	Jun. 30, 2012 Golden Gate II Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate II) Non Recourse funding obligations accruing interest at a rate of LIBOR plus 30 basis points	Jun. 30, 2012 Golden Gate II Captive Insurance Company (Golden Gate II) Non Recourse funding obligations accruing interest at a rate of LIBOR plus 200 basis points	Jun. 30, 2012 PLC Credit facility
DEBT AND OTHER OBLIGATIONS
Line of credit, current borrowing capacity					$ 500,000,000
Line of credit, maximum borrowing capacity					600,000,000	750,000,000
Line of credit, amount outstanding																				160,000,000
Base of floating rate interest payments							Administrative Agent's prime rate	Federal Funds rate		one-month LIBOR								LIBOR	LIBOR	LIBOR
Interest rate added to the base rate (as a percent)									0.50%		1.00%							0.30%	2.00%	0.40%
Maximum principal amount up to which commitment under the Credit Facility can be increased						1,000,000,000
Fair value of securities pledged under the repurchase program	222,000,000
Repurchase obligation	200,000,000
Number of series of Surplus Notes													3
Outstanding Surplus Notes													800,000,000	400,000,000	100,000,000	300,000,000
Interest rate on Surplus Notes (as a percent)														7.375%	8.00%	8.45%
Outstanding non-recourse funding obligations																	575,000,000	275,000,000	300,000,000
Non-recourse funding obligations held by external parties																	297,000,000
Non-recourse funding obligations held by nonconsolidated affiliates																	59,900,000
Non-recourse funding obligations held by consolidated subsidiaries of the Company																	218,100,000
Additional amount of obligations which can be issued under contingent approval																	100,000,000
Non Recourse funding obligations	1,156,900,000		1,248,600,000	[1]								800,000,000					356,900,000
Year-to-date weighted-average interest rate of non-recourse funding obligations (as a percent)												7.92%					1.25%
Outstanding non-recourse funding obligations repurchased at discount	91,700,000	90,700,000
Gain from repurchase of outstanding non-recourse funding obligations	$ 29,300,000	$ 29,800,000

[1] Recast from previously reported information