Refusal of discount on historic debt

I had a debt of R31 000.00 on my credit card with FNB which I couldn't afford to pay for a long time. I reached out to them last week thinking the debt was still around that amount but I was told it's been handed over to Hammond Pole.

Hammond Pole gave me an amount of R45 000.00 to pay and when I asked for a discount as I want to settle the debt I am told I can't get a discount. This is horrible because the reason for failure to pay was affordability, I still can barely get through and I thought I'd get a reduction hence I wanna pay once off and focus on other debts but it seems we are meant to pay debts forever. Very disappointing