I think about it a little differently:
Prime - a product that offers good terms & perks so that it can compete for people with good credit. In other words, people with "prime" credit could get a lot of different cards and have choices, so the "prime" card must offer something to entice them to apply & use the card.
Sub-prime - a product that has poor terms, few or no perks and tacks on fees because people with poor credit have no other choice. Customers who accept these types of cards probably do so because they can't get something better.
From the Cap One lineup, for example. The QS1 & QS offer the same rewards, but the QS1 tacks on an additional fee. Still, the QS1 isn't too bad and I feel like its right on the boarder between prime/sub-prime (totally subjective of course). There are a lot of other cards that have way worse terms & fees. But, the QS1 is "sub-prime" to me because nobody would accept a QS1 if they could actually get a QS.
@Anonymous wrote:
For Cap One, MasterCards are likely available to people with subprime profiles. This includes the Builder Program card (if you can still get that), the secured offer, the platinum offer and the QS1. Visas, on the other hand, are prime offerings - VentureOne, Venture and QS. The exception to this is the Journey, which is their student card so it has less strict underwriting than their other visas.
Perhaps for their current card offerings, but not necessarily for their discontinued or grandfathered card offerings perhaps? If you use the Internet Time Machine a.k.a. Wayback Machine to look at cached pages from the past for Cap1 cards, some of their past MC products included prime or even super-prime terms. I guess my point is that a grandfathered Cap1 MC from say "the good old days of yore" may not necessarily be sub-prime 
ETA: sorry, corrected accidental typo
@galahad15 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
For Cap One, MasterCards are likely available to people with subprime profiles. This includes the Builder Program card (if you can still get that), the secured offer, the platinum offer and the QS1. Visas, on the other hand, are prime offerings - VentureOne, Venture and QS. The exception to this is the Journey, which is their student card so it has less strict underwriting than their other visas.Perhaps for their current card one offerings, but not necessarily for their discontinued or grandfathered card offerings perhaps? If you use the Internet Time Machine a.k.a. Wayback Machine to look at cached pages from the past for Cap1 cards, some of their past MC products included prime or even super-prime terms. I guess my point is that a grandfathered Cap1 MC from say "the good old days of yore" may not necessarily be sub-prime
Oh I agree with what you're saying here absolutely, and there are QS Mastercards out there that have been upgraded from QS1 with huge limits and good terms and no annual fee. But I mean like if you're looking at it today and looking at all of their cards and looking to apply for something, generally speaking the current mastercards are likely available for subprime profiles.
@longtimelurker wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
While 'prime' and 'subprime' have to do with the borrower more than the issuer, here's a little clarification regarding your question specifically about Cap One cards.
All of this is ONLY for Cap One.
Capital One is an issuer that has products available for prime profiles as well as subprime profiles. The quickest way to tell, from a standpoint of someone who does not currently carry one of those cards, is to see what type of card it is.
For Cap One, MasterCards are likely available to people with subprime profiles. This includes the Builder Program card (if you can still get that), the secured offer, the platinum offer and the QS1. Visas, on the other hand, are prime offerings - VentureOne, Venture and QS. The exception to this is the Journey, which is their student card so it has less strict underwriting than their other visas.
If you're not sure, check in the terms and conditions of the offer. Capital One's terms will pretty much tell you. If it says you can't apply for the card if you have two capital one cards already, it's catered toward subprime borrowers. If it says the offer doesn't apply if you have five capital one cards, it's catered toward prime borrowers. I've found this in terms for cobranded cards as well (Sony and the PlayStation cards) so it's a decent hint across the board.Or even more easily, for current offerings, check which credit level each card requires on Cap One site. QS requires "Excellent" while QS1 is "Average" (and Cap One's definition of "Excellent" is very lenient)
Not for me. 
. Not worthy.
If the card works where I buy the Prime Rib for dinner, to me that's prime. Someone had to go there! 
@Imperfectfuture wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:Or even more easily, for current offerings, check which credit level each card requires on Cap One site. QS requires "Excellent" while QS1 is "Average" (and Cap One's definition of "Excellent" is very lenient)
Not for me.
I meant lenient in the sense of their definition of excellence, not that everyone meeting that definition will get the card! One of the requirements for Cap One to considier your credit as excellent is that you have no 60 day lates this year. So you could have (multiple) 30 days late, or a 90 day late the previous year etc. Of course, they may not grant you the card, but their definition is weak....
