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Basis of Presentation (Policies)
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011
Basis of Presentation [Abstract] 
Basis of Presentation
 
The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the instructions to Form 10-Q and, therefore, do not include all information and notes necessary for a complete presentation of financial position, results of operations and cash flow activity required in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. In the opinion of management of U.S. Bancorp (the “Company”), all adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair statement of results for the interim periods have been made. These financial statements and notes should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. Certain amounts in prior periods have been reclassified to conform to the current presentation.
 
Accounting policies for the lines of business are generally the same as those used in preparation of the consolidated financial statements with respect to activities specifically attributable to each business line. However, the preparation of business line results requires management to establish methodologies to allocate funding costs, expenses and other financial elements to each line of business. Table 10 “Line of Business Financial Performance” included in Management’s Discussion and Analysis provides details of segment results. This information is incorporated by reference into these Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
Troubled Debt Restructuring
 
Troubled Debt Restructurings On July 1, 2011, the Company adopted accounting guidance issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board related to identifying and disclosing troubled debt restructurings (“TDRs”), applicable to modifications occurring on or after January 1, 2011. This guidance provides clarification in determining whether a creditor has granted a concession and whether a debtor is experiencing financial difficulties for the purpose of determining whether a restructuring constitutes a TDR. The adoption of this guidance resulted in $1.4 billion of additional loan modifications considered to be TDRs which the Company had not previously considered to be impaired. The allowance for credit losses had previously been measured under a collective allowance for credit losses methodology. Under the new accounting guidance, the allowance for credit losses associated with these loans as of September 30, 2011, was $94 million. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company’s total allowance for credit losses.
Derivatives Financial Instruments
 
Use of Derivatives to Manage Interest Rate and Other Risks  To reduce the sensitivity of earnings to interest rate, prepayment, credit, price and foreign currency fluctuations (“asset and liability management positions”), the Company enters into derivative transactions. The Company uses derivatives for asset and liability management purposes primarily in the following ways:
•  To convert fixed-rate debt from fixed-rate payments to floating-rate payments;
•  To convert the cash flows associated with floating-rate loans and debt from floating-rate payments to fixed-rate payments; and
•  To mitigate changes in value of the Company’s mortgage origination pipeline, funded mortgage loans held for sale and MSRs.
To manage these risks, the Company may enter into exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivative contracts, including interest rate swaps, swaptions, futures, forwards and options. In addition, the Company enters into interest rate and foreign exchange derivative contracts to support the business requirements of its customers (“customer-related positions”). The Company minimizes the market and liquidity risks of customer-related positions by entering into similar offsetting positions with broker-dealers. The Company does not utilize derivatives for speculative purposes.
The Company does not designate all of the derivatives that it enters into for risk management purposes as accounting hedges because of the inefficiency of applying the accounting requirements and may instead elect fair value accounting for the related hedged items. In particular, the Company enters into U.S. Treasury futures, options on U.S. Treasury futures contracts, interest rate swaps and forward commitments to buy residential mortgage loans to mitigate fluctuations in the value of its MSRs, but does not designate those derivatives as accounting hedges.
Additionally, the Company uses forward commitments to sell residential mortgage loans at specified prices to economically hedge the interest rate risk in its residential mortgage loan production activities. At September 30, 2011, the Company had $12.6 billion of forward commitments to sell mortgage loans hedging $5.2 billion of mortgage loans held for sale and $13.2 billion of unfunded mortgage loan commitments. The forward commitments to sell and the unfunded mortgage loan commitments are considered derivatives under the accounting guidance related to accounting for derivative instruments and hedging activities, and the Company has elected the fair value option for the mortgage loans held for sale.
Derivatives are subject to credit risk associated with counterparties to the contracts. Credit risk associated with derivatives is measured by the Company based on the probability of counterparty default. The Company manages the credit risk of its derivative positions by diversifying its positions among various counterparties, entering into master netting agreements where possible with its counterparties, requiring collateral agreements with credit-rating thresholds and, in certain cases, though insignificant, transferring the counterparty credit risk related to interest rate swaps to third-parties through the use of risk participation agreements.
For additional information on derivatives and hedging activities, refer to Note 12 in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.