First down and sanity to go

A little over a month has passed since my last posting, but not that much has changed. Chase calls me one to three times per day until I decide to answer the call. Some chair moistener from Sector 7G is on the other end of the line.

"Hello, is this Mr. Dodger?"
"Yes."
"Mr. Dodger, I'm calling you from Chase Bank regarding an overdue balance on your account ending with the numbers 1234 in the amount of $345.00. I'm calling to see what we can set up to get this balance paid."
"Thanks, but I'm not interested." (This line seems to annoy them.)
"Mr. Dodger, I am talking about a credit card that you owe."
"Yeah, I know. And I already told you, I'm not interested in paying you. Did I stutter?"
"Well, no. But can we set up a check-by-phone to get this overdue balance paid?"
"Not gonna happen. Do you even know the history on this account."
"Uh, no."
"I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told every other office monkey who called has called me about this account: I am not going to pay you. Period."
"Okay, I'll put down here that you refuse to pay."
"You can put down whatever you want. It's not like the next not-ready-for-prime-time player y'all send my way will have reviewed YOUR notes, either. Honestly, I'd prefer you just send this account to your attorney already and I'll be happy to deal with them. Plus they'll get a cut which means less money for you, and that makes me happy."

Usually that's about the whole conversation. Yesterday I decided to append to the end of it: "Maybe I can work out some kind of lump sum settlement with them."

"Could you DO a lump sum settlement of this account?"
"I don't know. Maybe. Make me an offer." (...Honestly thinking they'll require me to make the first offer as is customary in these kinds of things.)
"Well, you owe about $3,500 on this account. We could accept a one-time payment in the amount of $2,400 in settlement."

Whoa. Wait. What? No hardship forms, no payment plans, no financial statements or other information, no nothing other than "F**K YOU I'LL PAY YOU NOTHING AND YOU'LL LIKE IT" for a mere -- five weeks, perhaps? -- and Chase is already offering to knock off about 30% of my balance if I pay it all at once.

All this for what is right now just one, solitary ding on my credit report.

Of course I'd be a damned fool to accept their offer. I figure I've got four to five more months of phone jockeys to churn through and wear down. Right now I'm feeling pretty good about getting them down to one-third of the balance. That would be not much more than I would have had to pay them on the same account over six months, after which I still would have owed them ALL of the rest!

Compliance is for the weak-hearted. Default puts the debtor in control. For a while, at least...