Business Segment Information - Additional Information (Detail)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Segment Reporting Information
Clients outside the U.S., percentage of total revenue	7.00%	7.00%	6.00%

Entity-Wide Disclosure on Geographic Areas, Percent of Revenue from External Customers Attributed to Foreign Countries

No definition available.

Name:	fisv_EntityWideDisclosureOnGeographicAreasPercentOfRevenueFromExternalCustomersAttributedToForeignCountries
Namespace Prefix:	fisv_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration