U.S. Retrospective Responsibility Plan and Potential Visa Europe Liabilities	3 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
Retrospective Responsibility Plan [Abstract]
U.S. Retrospective Responsibility Plan and Potential Visa Europe Liabilities	Note 3—U.S. Retrospective Responsibility Plan and Potential Visa Europe Liabilities U.S. Retrospective Responsibility Plan Under the terms of the U.S. retrospective responsibility plan, the Company maintains an escrow account from which settlements of, or judgments in, the covered litigation are paid. The balance of the escrow account was $1.1 billion at December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015. The Company paid $11 million to opt-out merchants from the litigation escrow account during the three months ended December 31, 2015 to settle their claims associated with the interchange multidistrict litigation. See Note 13—Legal Matters. The accrual related to the covered litigation could be either higher or lower than the litigation escrow account balance. The Company did not record an additional accrual for the covered litigation during the three months ended December 31, 2015. See Note 13—Legal Matters. Potential Visa Europe Liabilities On November 2, 2015, the Company and Visa Europe entered into the Transaction Agreement pursuant to which the Company agreed to acquire Visa Europe. Closing of the acquisition is subject to various conditions including regulatory approvals, and is expected to occur in the fiscal third quarter of 2016. Visa Inc., Visa Europe or their affiliates are, or may become, a party to certain existing and potential litigation relating to the setting of multilateral interchange fee rates in the Visa Europe territory. The Company has obtained certain protection in respect of losses resulting from existing and potential litigation through the preferred stock and the U.K. loss sharing agreement, and has agreed to certain terms regarding the conduct of such litigation, all of which is conditioned on the closing of the acquisition of Visa Europe by the Company. See Note 2—Visa Europe.

Note 3—U.S. Retrospective Responsibility Plan and Potential Visa Europe Liabilities

U.S. Retrospective Responsibility Plan

Under the terms of the U.S. retrospective responsibility plan, the Company maintains an escrow account from which settlements of, or judgments in, the covered litigation are paid. The balance of the escrow account was $1.1 billion at December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015. The Company paid $11 million to opt-out merchants from the litigation escrow account during the three months ended December 31, 2015 to settle their claims associated with the interchange multidistrict litigation. See Note 13—Legal Matters.

The accrual related to the covered litigation could be either higher or lower than the litigation escrow account balance. The Company did not record an additional accrual for the covered litigation during the three months ended December 31, 2015. See Note 13—Legal Matters.

Potential Visa Europe Liabilities

On November 2, 2015, the Company and Visa Europe entered into the Transaction Agreement pursuant to which the Company agreed to acquire Visa Europe. Closing of the acquisition is subject to various conditions including regulatory approvals, and is expected to occur in the fiscal third quarter of 2016. Visa Inc., Visa Europe or their affiliates are, or may become, a party to certain existing and potential litigation relating to the setting of multilateral interchange fee rates in the Visa Europe territory. The Company has obtained certain protection in respect of losses resulting from existing and potential litigation through the preferred stock and the U.K. loss sharing agreement, and has agreed to certain terms regarding the conduct of such litigation, all of which is conditioned on the closing of the acquisition of Visa Europe by the Company. See Note 2—Visa Europe.