Settled with CHASE for 33% today

I settled with CHASE today for 33%. Total on two cards was $42,000 and we settled at $14,000.

My background is this - I was a minority owner in a business that failed last year and my name was on a number of the cards and commercial lines. I made payments on them for eight months until my savings were depleted then, being still unemployed, consulted with an attorney about filing Chapter 13. They firm advised me to file but after much deliberation I decided I'd try to settle things myself.

I have several other cards and lines that I'm still dealing with but this was my biggest account and most pressing. I was 130 days over and up until last week they wouldn't even talk to me about settling. I'm not sure what changed but they offered me 70%, I countered with 18% and it went from there. My structure is three smaller payments than one large payment in 90 days.

Thanks to everyone on this site for sharing their experience. I learned a lot, most importantly to exercise patience once the decision to go delinquent has been made - or in this case - made for me.