Loans and Card Member Receivables (Details 6) 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	32	23	16
Aggregated Outstanding Balances Upon Default \| $	$ 239	$ 188	$ 106
Card Member loans
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Accounts \| account	24	17	12
Aggregated Outstanding Balances Upon Default \| $	$ 174	$ 127	$ 86
Card Member receivables
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Accounts \| account	5	3	4
Aggregated Outstanding Balances Upon Default \| $	$ 56	$ 55	$ 20
Other
Financing Receivable, Modifications [Line Items]
Number of Accounts \| account	3	3
Aggregated Outstanding Balances Upon Default \| $	$ 9	$ 6

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.

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 receivable contracts modified as troubled debt restructuring within previous 12 months, with subsequent payment default.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 34
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123577603&loc=SL6953682-111524

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsSubsequentDefaultNumberOfContracts1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of financing receivable modified as troubled debt restructuring within previous 12 months, with subsequent payment default.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 34
-Subparagraph (a)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123577603&loc=SL6953682-111524

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancingReceivableModificationsSubsequentDefaultRecordedInvestment1
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: