AARP® Essential Rewards Mastercard® from Barclays: annual fee, APR and rewards

Fact sheet for the AARP® Essential Rewards Mastercard® from Barclays, issued by Barclays, with no annual fee, an intro APR offer and cash back. Every detail below comes from the issuer’s pricing and terms pages, checked on the date shown at the end of the page.

Issuer	Barclays
Network	Mastercard
Annual fee	$0
Rewards	Cashback: Earn 3% Cash Back on Gas & Drug Store purchases. Earn 2% Cash Back on eligible Medical expenses. Earn 1% Cash Back on all other purchases.
Purchase APR	20.49% to 29.99%, based on your creditworthiness and other factors. This APR will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.
Intro APR	0% introductory APR for the first fifteen billing cycles following each balance transfer that posts to your account within 45 days of account opening.
Balance transfer fee	Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
Sign-up bonus	Earn a $100 Cash Back Bonus after spending $500 on purchases in the first 90 days of account opening.
Foreign transaction fee	3% of each transaction
Credit level	Excellent, Good (tiers the issuer reports to the CFPB)

What new cardholders actually got

In the CFPB's Terms of Credit Card Plans survey for July to December 2025, new accounts on this card got a median purchase APR of 25.74%, with a range of 20.24% to 29.99%. The advertised range above is what the issuer offers today; the survey shows where approved applicants landed.

Source: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Terms of Credit Card Plans survey.