Financing Receivables and Allowance For Losses On Financing Receivables (Allowance for Losses on Financing Receivables ) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	$ 5,359	$ 5,714	$ 4,985	$ 6,190
Provision charged	1,488	863
Other	(96)	(9)
Gross write-offs	(1,416)	(1,702)
Recoveries	398	372
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	993	1,433	1,041	1,530
Provision charged	163	158
Other	(11)	(43)
Gross write-offs	(254)	(259)
Recoveries	54	47
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | Americas CLL Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	490	802	490	889
Provision charged	74	66
Other	(1)	(20)
Gross write-offs	(103)	(156)
Recoveries	30	23
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | Europe CLL Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	411	458	445	400
Provision charged	83	83
Other	(5)	1
Gross write-offs	(132)	(45)
Recoveries	20	19
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | Asia CLL Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	72	112	80	157
Provision charged	11	11
Other	(5)	(5)
Gross write-offs	(18)	(56)
Recoveries	4	5
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | Other CLL Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	3	2	6	4
Provision charged	(3)	0
Other	0	0
Gross write-offs	0	(2)
Recoveries	0	0
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | CLL Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	976	1,374	1,021	1,450
Provision charged	165	160
Other	(11)	(24)
Gross write-offs	(253)	(259)
Recoveries	54	47
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | Energy Financial Services Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	8	25	9	26
Provision charged	(1)	(1)
Other	0	0
Gross write-offs	0	0
Recoveries	0	0
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | GECAS Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	7	14	8	17
Provision charged	(1)	(3)
Other	0	0
Gross write-offs	0	0
Recoveries	0	0
Commercial Portfolio Segment [Member] | Other Financing Receivables [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	2	20	3	37
Provision charged	0	2
Other	0	(19)
Gross write-offs	(1)	0
Recoveries	0	0
Commercial Real Estate Portfolio Segment [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	265	929	320	1,089
Provision charged	(20)	38
Other	(6)	(12)
Gross write-offs	(29)	(188)
Recoveries	0	2
Consumer Portfolio Segment [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	4,101	3,352	3,624	3,571
Provision charged	1,345	667
Other	(79)	46
Gross write-offs	(1,133)	(1,255)
Recoveries	344	323
Consumer Portfolio Segment [Member] | Non US residential mortgages [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	477	498	480	546
Provision charged	56	29
Other	(16)	8
Gross write-offs	(55)	(103)
Recoveries	12	18
Consumer Portfolio Segment [Member] | Non US installment and revolving credit [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	712	726	623	717
Provision charged	211	124
Other	(15)	28
Gross write-offs	(252)	(273)
Recoveries	145	130
Consumer Portfolio Segment [Member] | US installment and revolving credit [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	2,665	1,845	2,282	2,008
Provision charged	1,014	478
Other	(50)	0
Gross write-offs	(744)	(772)
Recoveries	163	131
Consumer Portfolio Segment [Member] | Non US auto [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	66	88	67	101
Provision charged	17	10
Other	(5)	(6)
Gross write-offs	(30)	(41)
Recoveries	17	24
Consumer Portfolio Segment [Member] | Consumer Other Financing Receivable [Member]
Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable [Line Items]
Total balance	181	195	172	199
Provision charged	47	26
Other	7	16
Gross write-offs	(52)	(66)
Recoveries	$ 7	$ 20