Interest rates on new creditcard offers were unchanged, according to the CreditCards.com WeeklyCredit Card Rate Report, following the return of the NFL Extra Points Rewardscredit card.

The national averageannual percentage rate (APR) remained at 14.15 percent this week, holding steady at the lowest rate since mid-May. Though the overall national average wasn't moved by the return of the NFL's official credit card, the average APR for the rewards card category did dip slightly lower.

The National Football League card was previously pulled from our database in mid-Aprilbefore the NFL announced it would move its credit card business from Bank of America to Barclays.The new NFL card debuted at Barclays in September, with APRs of 13.74 percent or17.74 percent, depending on the borrower's credit history. When asked about why those particular rates were chosen, Barclays said it would prefer not to supply information about how the bank sets its APRs. 

When a card offers two APRs, we use the lower rate in ourcalculations. The NFL card's new low rate brought down the average APR in the rewardscategory, but the rate wasn't low enough to impact the overall national average.

Not the only change
The reintroduction of the NFL card wasn't the only change we saw this week. The Cabela's Club Visa changed from an APR range between 9.99 percent and 18.30 percent to between 9.99 percent and 18.25 percent. Cabela's said the top end of the APR range declined due to a change in the London Interbank Offered Rate or Libor -- the British equivalent of the U.S. prime rate. While most domestic cards are pegged to the prime rate, Cabela's is tied to Libor.

While the latest card adjustments didn't change the overall national average this week, APRs have moved higher so far in 2010. As a result, a typical cardholder who borrowed $5,000 on a credit card today and consistently paid $150 per month at today's average interest rate would have to pay $6,390 to pay off the debt. That's $156 more than would have been required on Jan. 1, 2010 (when the national average APR was 12.97 percent). (Calculator: How long will it take to pay off your credit card balance?)

Those higher costs are one of the ways that lending standards remain challenging, making credit cardholders both less willing and able to borrow money. Against that backdrop -- and with ongoing fears about the economy spurring them to pay down debt -- credit card balances plunged by more than $4 billion in July, accord to the Federal Reserve's latest consumer credit report.

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