Just Settled w Chase thanks to this forum

I want to thank all of you for posting and sharing. I have been working on settling several cards for over 6 months now. I have been reading and occassionally posting when I had something to add.

Chase was my 3rd card. BOA was easiest - settled at 25% at around 110 days. Citi was a little trickier, but also came in at 25%. Chase was playing hardball. Even at almost 180 days, they were still talking about 50-60% settlement and wanting to do hardship program. I kept calling the number I had from their letters and, although very nice people, wouldn't budge below 50%. Yesterday I found a post here (somewhere) which had a Chase Settlement Phone number (different than what i had): 866-847-9513. Called last night, spoke to Melanie - she was so nice and helpful. First she asked some details about finances (in hopes to get me into some payment plan) - at first I was weary, but as she went on with questions (just wanted rough figures for take home pay, mortgage, car, and credit card payments) - I eased up and gave her the rough details. I knew I could not afford a payment plan and so did she. She put me on hold for a min and came back and said: Your best option would be a settlement and right away gave me an amount which came to 30% of my balance. 3500 for a balanace of almost 12000. I tried to wiggle my way to 25%, but she politely said: that's the lowest we can do so I'll just note that I offered that and you this and you can call back later. I thought for a moment, then told her I would accept the offer (4 payments over 93 (random?) days)