Document and Entity Information - shares	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2017	May 01, 2017
Document and Entity Information
Entity Registrant Name	FIRST DATA CORP
Entity Central Index Key	0000883980
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Document Type	10-Q
Document Period End Date	Mar. 31, 2017
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2017
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1
Amendment Flag	false
Class A common stock
Document Information [Line Items]
Entity common stock, shares outstanding		374,872,715
Class B common stock
Document Information [Line Items]
Entity common stock, shares outstanding		544,173,197