Common And Preferred Stock (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended			12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended
	Aug. 12, 2011	Nov. 30, 2008	Feb. 01, 2007	Dec. 31, 2011 months	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2011 MBIA Insurance Corporation [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Warrants [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 B Warrants [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 B2 Warrants [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Long Term Incentive Plan [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Long Term Incentive Plan [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Unaffiliated Investors [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Preferred Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Preferred Stock [Member] MBIA Inc. [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Preferred Stock [Member] MBIA Insurance Corporation [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 2007 Repurchase Authorization [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Purchase of common stock							11,500,000	9,800,000	4,000,000
Exercise price of common stock							$ 30.25	$ 30.25	$ 16.20
Fair value of warrants				$ 38,000,000	$ 58,000,000
Authorized repurchase of common stock, value			1,000,000,000
Repurchased under share repurchase program, shares				56,700,000									1,444
Repurchased under share repurchase program, cost				2,276,000,000	2,225,000,000											977,000,000
Repurchased under share repurchase program, average price per share				$ 17.24											$ 10,900
Remaining amount available under repurchase program				23,000,000
Repurchased shares				6,500,000									111
Repurchased, average price per share				$ 7.64										$ 20,200
Shares purchased for settling awards under long-term incentive plans										102,578	16,984
Proceeds from put option		400,000,000
Non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock		4,000
Preferred stock issued, shares				0	0	2,759
Preferred stock outstanding, shares				0	0							1,315
Preferred stock, carrying value issued and outstanding						$ 28,000,000						$ 12,000,000
Face value of preferred stock						10.90%							20.20%
Preferred stock, par value				$ 1	$ 1								$ 1,000
Preferred stock liquidation preference													$ 100,000
Dividend rate on preferred stock determined rate													LIBOR plus 200 basis points
Period of non payment of dividends on preferred stock, months				18
Number of new directors elected	2