Financing Receivables and Allowance For Losses On Financing Receivables (Allowance for Losses on Financing Receivables ) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	$ 5,380	$ 6,512	$ 6,190	$ 7,919
Provision charged	2,728	2,893
Other	(58)	(13)
Gross write-offs	(4,649)	(5,499)
Recoveries	1,169	1,212
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	1,249	1,646	1,530	2,045
Provision charged	378	479
Other	(68)	(50)
Gross write-offs	(740)	(993)
Recoveries	149	165
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | Americas CLL Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	567	995	889	1,288
Provision charged	67	250
Other	(43)	(79)
Gross write-offs	(423)	(544)
Recoveries	77	80
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | Europe CLL Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	574	403	400	429
Provision charged	271	126
Other	(3)	17
Gross write-offs	(142)	(218)
Recoveries	48	49
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | Asia CLL Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	72	150	157	222
Provision charged	13	81
Other	(1)	16
Gross write-offs	(117)	(194)
Recoveries	20	25
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | Other CLL Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	2	5	4	6
Provision charged	9	3
Other	(1)	(4)
Gross write-offs	(10)	0
Recoveries	0	0
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | CLL Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	1,215	1,553	1,450	1,945
Provision charged	360	460
Other	(48)	(50)
Gross write-offs	(692)	(956)
Recoveries	145	154
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | Energy Financial Services Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	13	36	26	22
Provision charged	8	10
Other	0	0
Gross write-offs	(24)	(4)
Recoveries	3	8
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | GECAS Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	12	14	17	20
Provision charged	7	(4)
Other	(1)	0
Gross write-offs	(11)	(2)
Recoveries	0	0
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | Other Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	9	43	37	58
Provision charged	3	13
Other	(19)	0
Gross write-offs	(13)	(31)
Recoveries	1	3
Commercial Real Estate Portfolio Segment [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	736	1,141	1,089	1,488
Provision charged	101	225
Other	(7)	13
Gross write-offs	(455)	(601)
Recoveries	8	16
Commercial Real Estate Portfolio Segment [Member] | Debt Real Estate [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	631	978	949	1,292
Provision charged	60	155
Other	1	13
Gross write-offs	(384)	(494)
Recoveries	5	12
Commercial Real Estate Portfolio Segment [Member] | Business Properties Real Estate [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	105	163	140	196
Provision charged	41	70
Other	(8)	0
Gross write-offs	(71)	(107)
Recoveries	3	4
Consumer Portfolio Segment [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	3,395	3,725	3,571	4,386
Provision charged	2,249	2,189
Other	17	24
Gross write-offs	(3,454)	(3,905)
Recoveries	1,012	1,031
Consumer Portfolio Segment [Member] | Non US residential mortgages [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	467	622	546	689
Provision charged	66	56
Other	5	8
Gross write-offs	(213)	(169)
Recoveries	63	38
Consumer Portfolio Segment [Member] | Non US installment and revolving credit [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	654	816	717	937
Provision charged	270	413
Other	22	16
Gross write-offs	(798)	(980)
Recoveries	443	430
Consumer Portfolio Segment [Member] | US installment and revolving credit [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	2,030	1,953	2,008	2,333
Provision charged	1,807	1,587
Other	(18)	(1)
Gross write-offs	(2,140)	(2,365)
Recoveries	373	399
Consumer Portfolio Segment [Member] | Non US auto [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	73	123	101	168
Provision charged	18	26
Other	(7)	7
Gross write-offs	(110)	(176)
Recoveries	71	98
Consumer Portfolio Segment [Member] | Consumer Other Financing Receivable [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	171	211	199	259
Provision charged	88	107
Other	15	(6)
Gross write-offs	(193)	(215)
Recoveries	$ 62	$ 66