I always used to shop at Pennies and I had their Credit Card.
One time put about $200 worth of stuff on the JCPenny card, later that month I moved and in the chaos of moving I inadvertently forgot to pay the card. Ok, my bad.
The next month when the bill came and I discovered my mistake I paid the bill in full. I wasn’t even that upset about the $35 late fee.
But even though I shopped there for over a decade and immediately paid my bill in full they still reported my missed payment to all the credit agencies and it hurt my credit rating, which hurt when I had to get a car loan.
I could see if I maxed out the card and/or they had to send multiple notices of lack of payment. But to do that to one of their good customers for just missing one payment.
When I called them to complain they claimed that it was the company they use for the credit card that did that not them and they couldn’t do anything about it.
My JCPenny card went into the shredder right after that and I never went back.
I learned about thirty years ago the two cards you never get are JC Penney’s and Sears.
For the very reasons you have stated, unfortunately they are some of the easiest to get.
Very unusual for a less-than-60-days-in-arrears to be reported to the credit agencies.