What's the difference between prime and subprime credit cards?

[BankruptinNJ]

I'm always seeing these terms thrown about, but how do you know?

[DesdemonaB]

Higher interest rates + poor terms= sub prime.

Limited or no credit, lack of assets, excessive debt, poor/late payment history and/or defaults and bk/judgments most likely define a sub prime borrower.

[jetsfan2010]

you can go from being subprime to prime, it just takes some time and patience.

[HHM]

Basically, the interest rate is much higher for sub-prime and the available balance is much lower. Also, a subprime card can be identified by the lender or sponsor of the card.

Sub-prime
Orchard
First Premier
etc

Prime:
Amex
Citigroup
Chase
etc

But even in the Prime group, they may have product offerings that would be considered sub-prime. But I never really understand credit card lending policies, I have a CitiCard that has ALWAYS had a relatively high interest, double my other cards, it currently sits at 18.99%, as such, I never use it; but I have tried calling and everything to see if they would reduce it. My Chase is 9.24% and my CapOne Venture is 13.90%. But, I rarely carry a balance, so I don't really care that much about interest rate, but the Citi card always irked me. I also have a Home Depot card, which is high for everyone (it is basically a subprime card), my rate is 21.99%. Like most people, I got the home depot card to save 10% on a major purchase and have 0% interest for 6-12 months.
And realize, I have stellar credit. Don't beat yourself up over it.

Basically, after BK, you eventually want to have 3 credit card accounts, preferably prime accounts and you must keep your credit utilization below 30% of your available balance. Note, that does not mean you should carry balances, you shouldn't. But if you only have $5,000 available credit, you should not charge more than $1,500 in any given billing cycle.

I don't recall if FICO scoring actually factors in prime vs subprime for credit scoring...but in a subjective review of your credit history (meaning, when a real person actually looks at, e.g. car purchase, home purchase), having a bunch of subprime cards is not a good factor. Everyone in the credit industry knows who those lenders are, so it does stick out.