GOODWILL AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS (Tables)
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]  
Schedule of goodwill
Changes in the carrying amount of goodwill, by business segment, are as follows (in thousands):

 
Merchant Services
 
Financial Institution Services
 
Total
Balance as of December 31, 2014
 
$
2,716,516

 
$
574,850

 
$
3,291,366

Goodwill attributable to acquisition of Mercury (1)
 
2,321

 
—

 
2,321

Balance as of March 31, 2015
 
$
2,718,837

 
$
574,850

 
$
3,293,687


 
(1) Amount represents adjustments to goodwill associated with the acquisition of Mercury as a result of an update to the purchase price allocation, primarily related to revisions of certain estimates from the preliminary amounts reported as of December 31, 2014.
Schedule of intangible assets
As of March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, the Company's intangible assets consisted of the following (in thousands):
 
 
March 31,
2015
 
December 31,
2014
Customer relationship intangible assets
 
$
1,596,581

 
$
1,596,581

Trade names - finite lived
 
65,833

 
65,833

Customer portfolios and related assets
 
59,508

 
57,383

 
 
1,721,922

 
1,719,797

 
 
 
 
 
Less accumulated amortization on:
 
 
 
 
  Customer relationship intangible assets
 
697,566

 
655,017

Trade names - finite lived
 
7,502

 
5,105

  Customer portfolios and related assets
 
29,269

 
24,983

 
 
734,337

 
685,105

 
 
$
987,585

 
$
1,034,692
Schedule of expected amortization expense
The estimated amortization expense of intangible assets for the next five years is as follows (in thousands):
Nine months ending December 31, 2015
 
$
141,911

2016
 
176,702

2017
 
163,045

2018
 
155,074

2019
 
147,671

2020
 
82,735