We earned $1.7 billion after tax or $5.55 per share.
These results include a $729 million one-time gain.
But even excluding this gain, our results were very strong at $3.73 per share.
Total sales were, up 48% from a year ago, and 24% from the second quarter of 2019.
The 24% growth I cited is an increase from 15% in the first quarter relative to the same period in 2019.
These decisions supported new account growth of 26% over 2019 levels with strong growth among prime consumers as our differentiated brand and integrated networks support our strong value proposition, which centers on transparent and useful rewards, outstanding customer service and no annual fees.
As we have highlighted before, the counterpoint of sustained strong credit performance is high payment rates, which in the second quarter were over 500 basis points above 2019 levels.
PULSE volume increased 19% year-over-year and was up 33% from 2019 levels.
Volume at Diners has also recovered to some extent and was, up 41% from the prior year's lows.
We accelerated our share repurchases to $553 million of common stock, a level near the maximum permitted under the Federal Reserve's four quarter rolling net income test.
And I'm very pleased that our Board of Directors authorized the new $2.4 billion share repurchase program that expires next March.
We also increased our quarterly dividend from $0.44 to $0.50 per share.
Revenue, net of interest expense, increased 34% from the prior year.
Excluding one-time items, revenue was up 9%.
Net interest income was up 5% as we continue to benefit from lower funding costs and reduced interest charge-offs, reflecting strong credit performance.
This was partially offset by a 4% decline in average receivables from the prior year levels.
Excluding one-time items, non-interest income increased 29%, driven by the higher -- by higher net debt count and interchange revenue, due to strong sales volume.
The provision for credit losses decreased $2 billion from the prior year, mainly due to a $321 million reserve release in the current quarter, compared to a $1.3 billion reserve build in the prior year, an improvement in the economic [Technical Issues] and ongoing credit strength were the primary drivers of the release.
Net charge-offs decreased 41% or $311 million from the prior year.
Operating expenses were, up 13%, primarily reflecting additional investments in marketing, which was up 36% and employee compensation, which was up 10%, a software write-off and a non-recurring impairment at Diners Club also contributed to the increase.
Ending loans increased 2% sequentially and were down just 1% from the prior year.
This was driven by card loans, which increased 2% from the prior quarter and were down 2% year-over-year.
Second, promotional balances were approximately 250 basis points lower than the prior year quarter.
Organic student loans increased 4% from the prior year.
Personal loans were down 6%, driven by credit tightening last year and high payment rates.
Net interest margin was 10.68%, up 87 basis points from the prior year and down 7 basis points sequentially.
Compared to the prior quarter, the net interest margin decrease was mainly driven by a nearly 200 basis points reduction in the card revolve rate.
Loan yields decreased 17 basis points from the prior quarter, mainly due to the lower revolve rate.
Yield on personal loans declined 7 basis points sequentially, due to lower pricing.
Student loan yield was up 4 basis points.
We cut our online savings rate to 40 basis points in the first quarter and did not make any pricing adjustments during the second quarter.
Average consumer deposits were, up 6% year-over-year and declined 1% from the prior quarter.
The entire sequential decline was from consumer CDs, which were down 9%, while savings and money market deposits increased 2% from the prior quarter.
Consumer deposits are now 66% of total funding, up from 65% in the prior period.
Excluding the equity investment gains, total non-interest income was up $123 million or 29% year-over-year.
Net discount and interchange revenue increased $102 million or 43% as revenue from strong sales volume was partially offset by higher rewards costs.
Loan fee income increased $20 million or 24%, mainly driven by higher cash advance fees with demand increasing as the economy reopens.
Total operating expenses were, up $145 million or 13% from the prior year.
Employee compensation increased $46 million, primarily due to a higher bonus accrual in the current [Technical Issues] versus 2020 when we reduced the accrual.
Marketing expense increased $46 million from the prior year as we accelerated our growth investments.
Information processing was up due to a $32 million software write-off, the increase in other expense reflects a $92 million charge and the remainder of the Diners intangible asset.
Total net charge-offs were 2.1%, down 132 basis points year-over-year and 36 basis points sequentially.
The [Technical Issues] net charge-off rate was 2.45%, 145 basis points lower than the prior year quarter and down 35 basis points sequentially.
The net charge-off dollars were down $276 million versus last year's second quarter and $62 million sequentially.
The card 30-plus delinquency rate was 1.43%, down 74 basis points from the prior year and 42 basis points lower sequentially.
This quarter, we released $321 million from the reserves, due to three key factors: continued improvement in the macroeconomic environment; sustained strong credit performance with improving delinquency trends and lower losses; these were partially offset by a 2% sequential increase in loans.
Our current economic assumptions include an unemployment rate of approximately 5.5% by year-end and GDP growth of 7%.
Our common equity Tier 1 ratio increased 80 basis points sequentially to 15.7%, a level well above our internal target of 10.5%.
On funding, we continue to make progress toward our goal of having deposits [Technical Issues] 70% to 80% of our mix.
We expect NIM will remain in a relatively narrow range, compared to the first quarter levels of 75%, with some quarterly variability similar to what we experienced this quarter.

Summary:
We earned $1.7 billion after tax or $5.55 per share.
And I'm very pleased that our Board of Directors authorized the new $2.4 billion share repurchase program that expires next March.
We also increased our quarterly dividend from $0.44 to $0.50 per share.
Average consumer deposits were, up 6% year-over-year and declined 1% from the prior quarter.
The entire sequential decline was from consumer CDs, which were down 9%, while savings and money market deposits increased 2% from the prior quarter.