Borrowings - Senior Secured Term Loan Facility (Details) - USD ($)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Senior secured term loan facility
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Quarterly payment under original terms as percentage of original principal amount (percent)	1.00%
Repayments of debt	$ 0	$ 0
Euro-denominated senior secured term loan facilities
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Nonderivative hedges of net investments in foreign operations	$ 1,000,000,000

Represents the percentage of the original principal amount that the company is required to pay as quarterly installments under the original terms of debt instrument.

No definition available.

Name:	fdc_DebtInstrumentQuarterlyPaymentUnderOriginalTermsAsPercentageOfOriginalPrincipalAmount
Namespace Prefix:	fdc_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration