Receivables - Nonperforming Consumer Receivable Portfolio (Parenthetical) (Detail) (Nonperforming Loans [Member], USD $) In Billions, unless otherwise specified	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Financing Receivable, Impaired [Line Items]
Nonperforming TDR loan receivable lower of amortized cost	$ 2.1	$ 3.0
Real estate secured [Member]
Financing Receivable, Impaired [Line Items]
Receivables that are carried at the lower of amortized cost or fair value less cost to sell	$ 1.7	$ 4.7

Non performing loan real estate secured receivable carried at lower of amortized cost or fair value.

No definition available.

Name:	hsbcfc_NonPerformingLoanRealEstateSecuredReceivableCarriedAtLowerOfAmortizedCostOrFairValue
Namespace Prefix:	hsbcfc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant