Ken McEldowney Card Quotations

If you make a couple of late payments on a new card with an introductory rate, ... your annual percentage rate could jump as much as 15 percentage points.

In essence you incurred the balance while you were much more credit worthy in the eyes of the credit card company.

If a consumer is paying late, or not making credit card payments, they know that before it hits a credit report. The only thing this might be a safeguard against is some kind of fraud -- and my understanding is that the credit reporting agencies have safeguards.