Loans and Accounts Receivable (Details 5) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017	Mar. 31, 2016
Financing Receivable Impaired [Line Items]
Average balance of impaired loans	$ 843	$ 686
Interest income recognized	24	19
U S Consumer Services [Member] \| Card Member Loans [Member]
Financing Receivable Impaired [Line Items]
Average balance of impaired loans	616	505
Interest income recognized	16	12
U S Consumer Services [Member] \| Card Member Receivables [Member]
Financing Receivable Impaired [Line Items]
Average balance of impaired loans	18	14
Interest income recognized	0	0
International Consumer and Network Services [Member] \| Card Member Loans [Member]
Financing Receivable Impaired [Line Items]
Average balance of impaired loans	53	53
Interest income recognized	4	4
Global Commercial Services [Member] \| Card Member Loans [Member]
Financing Receivable Impaired [Line Items]
Average balance of impaired loans	116	92
Interest income recognized	4	3
Global Commercial Services [Member] \| Card Member Receivables [Member]
Financing Receivable Impaired [Line Items]
Average balance of impaired loans	40	22
Interest income recognized	$ 0	$ 0

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- Definition

Average amount of investment of impaired financing receivables with related allowance for credit losses and without a related allowance for credit losses.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 15
-Subparagraph (c)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66008989&loc=d3e5212-111524

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 17
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66008989&loc=d3e5258-111524

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- Definition

Amount of interest income recognized that the financing receivables (with related allowance for credit losses and without a related allowance for credit losses) were impaired.

+ References

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