| **Preferred Stock** | 9 Months Ended                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   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| Preferred Stock     | Note 10.  Preferred StockOn February20, 2009, the Corporation entered into a Letter Agreement (PurchaseAgreement) with the U.S. Treasury (the “Treasury”),pursuant to which the Corporation agreed to issue and sell (a)116,000 shares of Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock,Series A (“the Series A Preferred Stock”) and (b) awarrant to purchase 991,453 shares of the Corporation’scommon stock for an aggregate purchase price of $116 million incash. ThePreferred Stock qualified as Tier I capital and was to paycumulative dividends at a rate of 5% per annum for the first fiveyears and 9% per annum thereafter.  The Series APreferred Stock was non-voting except with respect to certainmatters affecting the rights of the holders thereof, and wasredeemable by the Corporation after three years.  TheWarrant has a ten year term and is immediately exercisable with anexercise price of $17.55 per share of commonstock.  Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, the Treasuryhas agreed not to exercise voting power with respect to any sharesof common stock issued upon exercise of the Warrant. On June 30,2010, the Corporation entered into an Exchange Agreement with theUnited States Department of the Treasury whereby the Treasuryexchanged 46,400 shares of the Series A Preferred Stock for 46,400shares of trust preferred securities, having a liquidation amountof $1,000 per share (the “Capital Securities”) issuedby the Corporation’s wholly-owned subsidiary trust, FirstMerchants Capital Trust III, a Delaware Statutory Trust (the“Trust”).  The Trust simultaneously issued1,435 shares of the Trust’s common securities (the“Common Securities”) to the Corporation for thepurchase price of $1.4 million which constituted all of the issuedand outstanding common securities of the Trust. The Trust used thetendered Series A Preferred Stock and the proceeds from the sale ofthe Common Securities to purchase $47.8 million in aggregateprincipal amount of Fixed Rate Perpetual Junior SubordinatedDebentures, Series A issued by the Corporation (the“Debentures”).  The Capital Securities andthe Debentures bore interest, payable quarterly, at a rate of fivepercent (5%) until February 20, 2014 when the rate increases tonine percent (9%).  The Capital Securities and Debentureswere redeemable by the Corporation upon proper notice andregulatory approval (a) at any time, so long as the CapitalSecurities were held by the Treasury and (b) at any time after June30, 2015, if the Capital Securities were held by a person or entityother than the Treasury.The Series APreferred Stock, which had been issued to the Treasury inconnection with the Troubled Assets Relief Program’s CapitalPurchase Program (“TARP”), has beencancelled.  Following the exchange, the Treasurycontinued to hold 69,600 shares of Series A Preferred Stock alongwith the Warrant to initially purchase up to 991,453 shares of theCorporation’s common stock, which was also issued pursuant toTARP.  Thisparticular exchange resulted in a gain on retirement of PreferredStock favorably impacting retained earnings by $10.1 million (netof deferred taxes), which was also considered as part of earningsavailable to common stockholders in the earnings per common share(“EPS”) computations. On September22, 2011, the Corporation entered into a Securities PurchaseAgreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with the Treasury,pursuant to which the Corporation issued 90,782.94 shares of theCorporation’s Senior Non-Cumulative Perpetual PreferredStock, Series B (the “Series B Preferred Stock”),having a liquidation amount per share equal to $1,000, for a totalpurchase price of $90,782,940. The Purchase Agreement was enteredinto, and the Series B Preferred Stock was issued, pursuant to theSBLF program, a $30 billion fund established under the SmallBusiness Jobs Act of 2010, that encourages lending to smallbusinesses by providing capital to qualified community banks withassets of less than $10 billion. The Series BPreferred Stock is entitled to receive non-cumulative dividends,payable quarterly, on each January 1, April 1, July 1 and October1, beginning October 1, 2011. The dividend rate, as a percentage ofthe liquidation amount, can fluctuate on a quarterly basis duringthe first ten quarters during which the Series B Preferred Stock isoutstanding, based upon changes in the level of “QualifiedSmall Business Lending” or “QSBL” (as defined inthe Purchase Agreement) by the Bank.  Based upon theBank’s level of QSBL over the baseline level calculated underthe terms of the Purchase Agreement (the “Baseline”),the dividend rate for the initial dividend period has been set atfive percent (5%). For the second through tenth dividend periods,the dividend rate may be adjusted to between one percent (1%) andfive percent (5%) per annum, to reflect the amount of change in theBank’s level of QSBL. In addition to the dividend, in theevent the Bank’s level of QSBL has not increased relative tothe Baseline, at the beginning of the tenth calendar quarter, theCorporation will be subject to an additional lending incentive feeequal to two percent (2%) per annum. For the eleventh dividendperiod through the eighteenth dividend period, inclusive, and thatportion of the nineteenth dividend period before, but notincluding, the four and one half (4½) year anniversary of thedate of issuance, the dividend rate will be fixed at between onepercent (1%) and seven percent (7%) per annum based upon theincrease in QSBL as compared to the baseline. After four and onehalf (4½) years from issuance, the dividend rate will increaseto nine percent (9%). The Series BPreferred Stock is non-voting, except in limited circumstances. Inthe event that the Corporation misses five dividend payments,whether or not consecutive, the holder of the Series B PreferredStock will have the right, but not the obligation, to appoint arepresentative as an observer on the Corporation’s Board ofDirectors. In the event that the Corporation misses six dividendpayments, whether or not consecutive, and if the then outstandingaggregate liquidation amount of the Series B Preferred Stock is atleast $25,000,000, then the holder of the Series B Preferred Stockwill have the right to designate two directors to the Board ofDirectors of the Corporation. The Series BPreferred Stock may be redeemed at any time at theCorporation’s option, at a redemption price of one hundredpercent (100%) of the liquidation amount plus accrued but unpaiddividends to the date of redemption for the current period, subjectto the approval of its federal banking regulator. The Series BPreferred Stock was issued in a private placement exempt fromregistration pursuant to Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of1933, as amended. The Corporation has agreed to register the SeriesB Preferred Stock under certain circumstances set forth in Annex Eto the Purchase Agreement. The Series B Preferred Stock is notsubject to any contractual restrictions on transfer. Theforegoing summary of the terms of the Purchase Agreement is subjectto, and qualified in its entirety by, the full text of the PurchaseAgreement. Also onSeptember 22, 2011, the Corporation entered into and consummatedtwo letter agreements (each, a “Repurchase Letter”)with the Treasury, pursuant to which the Corporation redeemed, outof the proceeds of the issuance of the Series B Preferred Stock inthe amount of $90,782,940 and cash of $25,813,171 (of which$21,165,000 was raised through a private placement of theCorporation’s common stock on September 9, 2011) for anaggregate redemption price of $116,596,111, including accrued butunpaid dividends to the date of redemption: (i) all 69,600 sharesof the Corporation’s Series A Preferred Stock, and (ii) all46,400 Capital Securities held by the Treasury . The Treasurycontinues to hold a Warrant to purchase 991,453 shares of theCorporation’s common stock at an exercise price of $17.55 pershare. Under the terms of the Repurchase Letter the Treasury hasprovided the Corporation notice of its intention to sell theWarrant. Theforegoing summary of the terms of the Repurchase Letters is subjectto, and qualified in its entirety by, the full text of theRepurchase Letters. |

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| - Definition
The entire disclosure for terms, amounts, nature of changes, rights and privileges, dividends, and other matters related to preferred stock.
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