Shareowners' Equity (Parenthetical) (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012		Dec. 31, 2011		Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 First Preferred Shares Issuance [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 First Preferred Shares Issuance [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Second Preferred Shares Issuance [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 Adjustments For Change In Accounting Principle [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Financial Services Consolidated Affiliates [Member]
Stockholders Equity Note [Line Items]
Preferred stock authorized	750,000		750,000			40,000
Preferred stock, par value	$ 0.01		$ 0.01				$ 0.01
Preferred stock issued	40,000		0				22,500	17,500
Proceeds From Issuance Of Preferred Stock	$ 3,960,000,000		$ 0		$ 0
Initial Fixed Interest Rate Of Preferred Stock							7.125%	6.25%
Percentage Points Over Three Month LIBOR							5.296%	4.704%
Dividend Amount Paid To Parent	1,926,000,000
Special Dividend Paid To Parent	4,500,000,000
Cumulative effect of changes in accounting principles	82,597,000,000		77,800,000,000		70,148,000,000				265,000,000
Adjustment to reclass unrealized gains to offset deferred acquisition costs and present value of future profits	527,000,000		786,000,000		1,171,000,000
Effects of accretion of redeemable securities					38,000,000
Investment securities - net	707,000,000		606,000,000		14,000,000
Currency translation adjustments - net	280,000,000		984,000,000		(2,729,000,000)
Benefit plans	(173,000,000)		(183,000,000)		54,000,000
Assets	539,223,000,000	[1]	584,536,000,000	[1]						166,800,000,000
Cash contributed to run-off insurance operations	800,000,000
Restricted Net Assets Financial Services	19,900,000,000
Aggregate Statutory Capital	1,600,000,000		1,600,000,000
Aggregate Surplus	1,600,000,000		1,600,000,000
Preferred stock dividends declared	$ 123,000,000		$ 0		$ 0
Percentage Of Regulatory Capital Requirement Maintain For Run Off Insurance Operations	300.00%

[1] (a) Our consolidated assets at December 31, 2012 include total assets of $45,814 million of certain variable interest entities (VIEs) that can only be used to settle the liabilities of those VIEs. These assets include net financing receivables of $40,287 million and investment securities of $3,419 million. Our consolidated liabilities at December 31, 2012 include liabilities of certain VIEs for which the VIE creditors do not have recourse to General Electric Capital Corporation (GECC). These liabilities include non-recourse borrowings of consolidated securitization entities (CSEs) of $29,123 million. See Note 17.