Employee Benefit Plans - Narrative (Details) $ in Millions	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($) investment_pool
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Expected contributions to defined contribution plans	$ 66
Expected contributions to defined benefit plans	$ 1
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Plan assets actual allocation percentage	15.00%
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Plan assets actual allocation percentage	85.00%
U.S. and other plans \| Equity securities
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Plan assets target allocation percentage	50.00%
U.S. and other plans \| Debt securities
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Plan assets target allocation percentage	50.00%
U.K. plan
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of plan asset investment pools \| investment_pool	2
U.K. plan \| Off-risk assets
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Plan assets target allocation percentage	60.00%
U.K. plan \| On-risk assets
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Plan assets target allocation percentage	40.00%

Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets, Target Allocation, Number Of Investment Pools

No definition available.

Name:	fisv_DefinedBenefitPlanPlanAssetsTargetAllocationNumberOfInvestmentPools
Namespace Prefix:	fisv_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Defined Contribution Plan, Expected Future Employer Contributions, Current Fiscal Year

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	fisv_DefinedContributionPlanExpectedFutureEmployerContributionsCurrentFiscalYear
Namespace Prefix:	fisv_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
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_DefinedBenefitPlanDisclosureLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of contributions received and expected to be received by defined benefit plan from employer in current fiscal year.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118255775&loc=d3e2709-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanExpectedFutureEmployerContributionsCurrentFiscalYear
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Percentage of target investment allocation to total plan assets. Includes, but is not limited to, percentage on weighted-average basis if more than one plan.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/exampleRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 55
-Paragraph 17
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118257860&loc=d3e4179-114921

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (d)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118255775&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanPlanAssetsTargetAllocationPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Percentage of actual investment allocation to total plan assets. Includes, but is not limited to, percentage on weighted-average basis if more than one plan.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (d)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118255775&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanWeightedAverageAssetAllocations
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByFairValueHierarchyLevelAxis=us-gaap_FairValueInputsLevel1Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByFairValueHierarchyLevelAxis=us-gaap_FairValueInputsLevel2Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RetirementPlanSponsorLocationAxis=fisv_UnitedStatesAndOtherForeignPensionPlansDefinedBenefitMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanByPlanAssetCategoriesAxis=us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanEquitySecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanByPlanAssetCategoriesAxis=us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanDebtSecurityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RetirementPlanSponsorLocationAxis=country_GB
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanByPlanAssetCategoriesAxis=fisv_DefinedBenefitPlanOffRiskAssetsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanByPlanAssetCategoriesAxis=fisv_DefinedBenefitPlanOnRiskAssetsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: