Holiday spending can be difficult enough to budget for at the best of times, without the bill creeping up by way of these hidden charges. It is possible for consumers to reduce the amount they will pay in fees, or avoid paying them altogether, if they take a little time to research the credit card market before going away and make sure that they are packing the right plastic.

Our users spend more than twice the amount of time with us than any other financial site on the Web, so I think that clearly when you look at Yahoo Finance versus our competitors, there's breadth and there's depth.

We won't know the true amount until the dust settles.

Seniors are scared to death with the inordinate amount of information, and they are intimidated by the penalty if they don't make a choice by May 15.