Loans and Card Member Receivables (Details 5) account in Thousands, $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021 USD ($) account	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($) account	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) account
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Accounts \| account	137	328	87
Account Balances \| $	$ 1,239	$ 3,894	$ 812
Card Member loans
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Accounts \| account	112	272	78
Account Balances \| $	$ 789	$ 2,347	$ 602
Average Interest Rate Reduction (as a percent)	13.00%	14.00%	13.00%
Card Member receivables
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Accounts \| account	21	47	9
Account Balances \| $	$ 437	$ 1,202	$ 210
Average Payment Term Extension (in months)	18 months	19 months	26 months
Other
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Accounts \| account	4	9
Account Balances \| $	$ 13	$ 345
Average Interest Rate Reduction (as a percent)	3.00%	3.00%
Average Payment Term Extension (in months)	16 months	16 months

Average Interest Rate Reduction By Class Of Financial Instrument

No definition available.

Name:	axp_AverageInterestRateReductionByClassOfFinancialInstrument
Namespace Prefix:	axp_
Data Type:	dtr-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The average period for payment term extension for Card Member receivables modified in a TDR.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	axp_AveragePaymentTermExtension
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

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsLineItems
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 http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123577603&loc=SL6953676-111524

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsNumberOfContracts2
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

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

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsPreModificationRecordedInvestment2
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

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

- Details

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

- Details

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