Will CC raise my APR?

While I empathize with what happened to your friend the answer is simple. Since he missed payments they raised his rate to the very high nearly 30% default rate. The Credit card company will care little if any about his plight. As for you.........if you are fairly sure you will not loose your income then no you should not close out your account. The new laws in place forbid credit card companies from sudden unwarranted rate hikes. If you have a situation similar to your friends they can and probably will raise your rate. To be late on a credit report you need to be a minimum of thirty days late, but to have a rate hike you only need to miss the due date on your bill. It would also be wise to refresh yourself with the terms and conditions or your credit card agreement to see what your default rate would be.