Loans and Card Member Receivables - Modified as TDR (Details 7) account in Thousands, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2022 USD ($) account
Financing Receivable, Troubled Debt Restructuring [Line Items]
Number of Accounts \| account	34
Account Balances \| $	$ 349
Card Member Loans
Financing Receivable, Troubled Debt Restructuring [Line Items]
Number of Accounts \| account	27
Account Balances \| $	$ 177
Average Interest Rate Reduction (as a percent)	14.00%
Card Member Receivables
Financing Receivable, Troubled Debt Restructuring [Line Items]
Number of Accounts \| account	6
Account Balances \| $	$ 171
Average Payment Term Extension (in months)	17 months
Other Loans
Financing Receivable, Troubled Debt Restructuring [Line Items]
Number of Accounts \| account	1
Account Balances \| $	$ 1
Average Interest Rate Reduction (as a percent)	2.00%
Average Payment Term Extension (in months)	15 months

The average basis point reduction in interest rate by class of Financial Instrument

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	axp_
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- Definition

The average period for payment term extension for card member receivables modified in a TDR.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	axp_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- 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

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

- Definition

Number of financing receivables that have been modified by troubled debt restructurings.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 33
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123577603&loc=SL6953676-111524

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount, before troubled debt restructuring, of financing receivable to be modified.

+ References

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
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- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=axp_CardmemberReceivablesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
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- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableRecordedInvestmentByClassOfFinancingReceivableAxis=axp_OtherLoansMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
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