Variable Interest Entities (Narrative) (Detail) $ in Billions	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Carrying amounts of assets	$ 2.8		$ 5.4
Carrying amounts of liabilities	$ 2.3		$ 5.1
Number of variable interest entities consolidated	1	1

Represents the number of VIEs consolidated during the period.

No definition available.

Name:	mbi_NumberOfVariableInterestEntitiesConsolidated
Namespace Prefix:	mbi_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The carrying amount of the consolidated Variable Interest Entity's assets included in the reporting entity's statement of financial position.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 810
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (bb)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=52262685&loc=d3e5710-111685

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_VariableInterestEntityConsolidatedCarryingAmountAssets
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The carrying amount of the consolidated Variable Interest Entity's liabilities included in the reporting entity's statement of financial position.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_VariableInterestEntityConsolidatedCarryingAmountLiabilities
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_VariableInterestEntityLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration