Thanks for bumping this, whoever did!  This should be stickied, if its not already.  You are penalized way too harshly for lates - I'm dealing with lates from 2 years ago!  Even the utility companies return your deposit after 12 months no lates, and inquiries lose impact after 12 months.

I think a lot of people don't equate late with not paying.  Its definitely a certain mindset you have to get into, where paying late is like a deadly sin, lol.

I have set up auto-pay wherever possible, but I'm in my accounts daily anyway so its not difficult to always know what's due.

I did the score simulator or estimator at one of the sites and it showed me anywhere from 80-100 point increase if I can get those lates removed from 2010, so I'm waiting on the response from a GW letter.  

This can't be stressed too many times - NEVER EVER BE LATE!