CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (Relationship with RSO) (Details) (USD $)									0 Months Ended	2 Months Ended	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		42 Months Ended						3 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010	Sep. 30, 2012 Notes Payable to RSO [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Notes Payable to RSO [Member]	Jul. 20, 2011 Notes Payable to RSO [Member]	Jan. 31, 2010 Notes Payable to RSO [Member]	Feb. 28, 2011 RSO [Member] CVC Credit Partners, L.P. [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 LEAF Commercial Capital Inc [Member] Notes Payable to RSO [Member]	Nov. 16, 2011 LEAF Commercial Capital Inc [Member] Notes Payable to RSO [Member]	Jan. 31, 2011 RSO [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 RSO [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 RSO [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 RSO [Member]	Sep. 30, 2010 RSO [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 RSO [Member]	Feb. 28, 2011 RSO [Member] holding	Sep. 30, 2010 Commercial Finance [Member]	Sep. 30, 2010 Commercial Finance [Member] RSO [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Maximum [Member]	Jul. 20, 2011 Maximum [Member] LEAF Commercial Capital Inc [Member] Notes Payable to RSO [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Maximum [Member] RSO [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Term of management agreement																1 year
Base management fee as a percent of equity	0.083%
Percent base used for multiplication to calculate total manament fees																1.50%
Percent of investor relations employee allocation																50.00%
Number of CLOs holding																	5
ColataCLOs in bank loans																	$ 1,700,000,000
Percent of base and additional collateral management fees permited to be paid								10.00%
Percent of incentive collateral management fees permited to be paid								50.00%
Total amount allowed to borrow																					10,000,000
Amount funded									6,900,000
Notes payable additional funding										3,100,000
Repayments of related party debt										8,500,000
Borrowings	23,020,000	222,659,000		1,677,000	1,705,000		2,000,000
Interest rate (in hundredths)						8.00%	8.00%			8.00%
Acquisition fees, percentage											1.00%									2.00%
Allocated share-based compensation expense												200,000
Allocated share-based compensation expense, net of tax												173,000
Servicing fees, assets											1.00%
Loans and leases receivable, amount sold														2,300,000	116,000,000
Acquisition and servicing fees, loss recognized															7,500,000
Estimated reserve for acquisition and servicing fees													3,000,000
Loans and leases receivable, amount																						5,900,000
Servicing liabilities at fair value			2,500,000															2,500,000	2,500,000
Write-off of unreimbursed capitalized cost															2,000,000
Loans and leases receivable, additional amount sold															10,300,000
Repurchase of loans and leases														$ 0	$ 140,000