I missed a QVC credit card payment and am afraid that my credit score is going to suffer as a result. What can I do to prevent my credit from being damaged further?

Not to worry. One late credit card payment generally will not sink your credit score too badly. It's when payments are missed completely, or repeatedly late, that it can start to affect your credit score. It's important to understand the components that go into a credit score, in order to achieve the best score possible. The five things that affect your credit score are: making payments on time, maintaining a healthy debt-to-available-credit balance, length of credit history, types of credit used, and amount of new credit requests. It's best if you make all payments on time, keep your balances low, keep your accounts open and active, utilize a mix of types of credit, and apply for new accounts selectively. That way, you'll keep your credit score as high as it can be, and any negative information will fall off your credit report eventually.