Borrowings - Foreign Lines of Credit and Other Arrangements (Details) - USD ($)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Other short term debt
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Amount outstanding and uncommitted	$ 10,000,000	$ 17,000,000
Foreign lines of credit and other arrangements
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Maximum borrowing capacity	$ 489,000,000	$ 245,000,000
Weighted-average interest rate	2.60%	2.60%
Foreign lines of credit and other arrangements \| USD denominated term loan
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Maximum borrowing capacity	$ 355,000,000	$ 75,000,000

Amount borrowed and uncommitted under the credit facility as of the balance sheet date.

No definition available.

Name:	fdc_LineofCreditFacilityAmountOutstandingUncommitted
Namespace Prefix:	fdc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The average effective interest rate during the reporting period.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 835
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64930785&loc=d3e28551-108399

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.22(a)(1))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentInterestRateDuringPeriod
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
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

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

- Definition

Maximum borrowing capacity under the credit facility without consideration of any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed or the amounts currently outstanding under the facility.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19(b),22(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

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

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShortTermDebtTypeAxis=fdc_OtherShortTermDebtMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis=fdc_ForeignLineOfCreditAndOtherShortTermDebtMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis=fdc_USDenominatedTermLoanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: