It was a simple snafu with an automatic payment coming out of an account other than my primary accounts so I didnt notice the problem. At the time I spoke with the rep at GE money the late payment had not been reported on my credit, which is why I believed him when he said it wouldn't be reported. I wont make that mistake again and will get it in writing in the future. Not that I am ever planning to have a late payment again. This was my first late payment ever.

I have the following accounts and opening dates:

Syncb/Rooms to Go (formerly ge money) 10/19/2010
Amex Blue Card 04/29/2007
Delta Amex 05/2012
Costco Amex 05/23/2013
BOA Cash Rewards 06/20/2002
BOA Cash Rewards 11/26/2004
Capital One 04/02/2001
Chase Sapphire 03/08/2014
Citi Thank You Preferred 11/01/1999
Discover It 02/25/2009
HSBC Cash and Fly 03/24/2007

My credit history is established from the time I was 18. At some point the costco amex and delta amex will get cancelled and I'll have them transfer the credit lines to other cards. The capital one card rarely gets used but I keep it because of the age. I've had various Chase accounts over the years and have closed them for various reasons.

According to my discover statements it was an 804 5/14 (obviously before the reporting of the late payment), 740 06/14, and 746 07/14. It is probably too much to hope that I would gain 6 points every month, which would bring me back to 800 in about 9 months. I try to pay my balances before the statement closing date whenever possible.

I was only considering the Freedom at some point because I can transfer the points to my UR account since I also hold the CSP. I figured I could max out the bonus categories each quarter but was planning to wait until the offer went back up to $200 (20k pts).