Earnings were $738 million or $1.24 per diluted share, an increase of $0.09 over last year.
Loan receivables were down 6% to $81.9 billion, and average active accounts decreased 10% from last year, with new accounts down 19%.
Purchase volume per account increased 10% over last year to $602.
And average active balance per account increased 4% to just under $1,200.
Net interest margin was down 37 basis points to 14.64% and the efficiency ratio was 37.1% for the quarter.
Net charge-offs hit a new low at 3.16%.
As a result of our liquidity and funding strategy, in response to COVID-19 impact on our balance sheet, deposits were down $2.3 billion or 4% versus last year.
Total deposits comprise 80% of our funding and our direct deposit platform remains an important funding source.
During the quarter -- we returned $128 million in the quarter through a common stock dividend.
We also announced that the Board authorized $1.6 billion in share repurchases for 2021, beginning in the first quarter.
CareCredit is already accepted at more than 9,000 Walgreens and Duane Reade stores.
Approximately, 60% of our applications were done digitally during the fourth quarter and grew 18% in mobile channel applications.
In Retail Card, 51% of our sales occurred online.
Finally, approximately 65% of our payments were made digitally.
Together, with our 16,500 employees, we are doing just that.
We offer mid- and long-term equal payment plans with promotional periods anywhere from 12 to 162 months, depending on the product category.
We also offer short-term equal payment plans with promotional periods of three to 12 months.
We offer collateralized installment products with bigger ticket purchases with promotional periods from 12 to 180 months.
These products run anywhere from three to 36 months.
All of these products are priced appropriately to meet our partner and customer objectives with APR starting at 0%, and each of these products, in turn, offer distinct benefits and address the unique objectives of our partners and customers.
To put our overall equal payment financing strategy in perspective, we currently have $15 billion in equal payment balances, 56% of which have 0% APR financing.
We have about 74,000 partners or locations offering our payment plan products.
And we have an overall repeat purchase rate of approximately 30% within 24 months of the first purchase.
Purchase volume was essentially flat, down 1% versus last year and in line with our expectations for the quarter, despite some pressure from new shutdowns and restrictions as the pandemic progressed during the quarter.
The continued pressure caused our average active accounts to be down 10% and a decrease in loan receivables of 6%.
Interest and fees on loans were down 11% from last year, consistent with the core decrease we experienced last quarter.
Dual and co-branded cards account for 38% of our purchase line in the fourth quarter and declined 4% from the prior year.
On a loan receivable basis, they account for 24% of the portfolio and declined 10% from the prior year.
RSAs increased $18 million or 2% from last year.
RSAs as a percentage of average receivables was 5.2% for the quarter.
The improvement in net charge-offs resulted in a decrease in the provision for credit losses of $354 million or 32% from last year.
This was partially offset by a reserve build in the fourth quarter of $119 million.
Other income decreased $22 million, mainly due to higher loyalty costs.
Other expense decreased $79 million or 7% from last year due to lower purchase volume and average active accounts, coupled with lower employee costs as we have begun to implement our strategic plan to reduce operating expenses.
In Retail Card, loan receivables were down 8%, with the COVID-19 impact being partially offset by strong growth in digital programs.
That resiliency is evident in the growth in purchase line, which was up 1% over last year.
Loan receivables declined 2%.
Average active account and interest and fees on loans were down 9%, which was driven primarily by lower yield on loan receivables.
Purchase line decreased 7% this quarter.
We continue to drive growth organically through our partnerships and networks and added over 2,800 new merchants during the quarter.
We also continue to drive higher card reuse, which now stands at approximately 34% of purchase volume, excluding oil and gas.
Loan receivables declined 7% with interest and fees on loans decreasing 4%, primarily driven by lower merchant discount revenue as a result of the decline in purchase volume, which was down 6%.
Average active accounts decreased 10%.
The expansions of our network and acceptance strategy has helped to drive reuse rate to 59% of purchase line in the fourth quarter.
Net interest income decreased 9% from last year primarily driven by an 11% decrease in interest and fees on loan receivables due to the impact of COVID-19.
Net interest margin was 14.64% compared to last year's margin of 15.01%, largely driven by the impact of COVID-19 on loan receivables, an increase in liquidity and lower benchmark rates.
Specifically, the mix of loan receivables as a percent of total earning assets declined approximately 30 basis points from 80.2% to 79.9%, driven by higher liquidity held during the quarter.
The loan receivables yield of 19.93% was down 94 basis points versus last year and was a driver of a 75 basis point reduction in our net interest margin.
The liquidity yield declined as a result of lower benchmark rates and accounted for a 30 basis point reduction in our net interest margin.
These impacts were partially offset by an 89 basis point decrease in the total interest-bearing liabilities cost to 1.69%, primarily due to lower benchmark rates and a higher proportion of deposit funding.
This provides a 73 basis point increase in our net interest margin.
The 30-plus delinquency rate was 3.07% compared to 4.44% last year.
The 90-plus delinquency rate was 1.40% compared to 2.15% last year.
The net charge-off rate was 3.16% compared to 5.15% last year.
The allowance for credit losses as a percent of loan receivables was 12.54% with the increase to last year being primarily driven by the adoption of CECL in 2020 and the impact from COVID-19.
Overall expenses were $1 billion for the quarter, down $79 million or 7% from last year.
The efficiency ratio for the fourth quarter was 37.1% compared to 34.8% last year.
Deposits declined $2.3 billion from last year.
Our securitized and unsecured funding sources were down $2.6 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively.
This resulted in deposits being 80% of our funding compared to 77% last year with securitized and unsecured funding, each comprising 10% of our funding sources at quarter end.
Total liquidity, including undrawn credit facilities, was $23.7 billion, which equated to 24.7% of our total assets, up from 22% last year.
With this framework, we ended the quarter at 15.9% CET1 under the CECL transition rules, 180 basis points above last year's level of 14.1%.
The Tier one capital ratio was 16.8% under CECL transition rules compared to 15% last year.
The total capital ratio increased 180 basis points as well to 18.1%.
And the Tier one capital plus reserves ratio on a fully phased-in basis increased to 27% compared to 21.4% last year, reflecting the increase in reserves as a result of implementing CECL.
During the quarter, we paid a common stock dividend of $0.22 per share.
For the full year, we returned approximately $1.5 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and common stock dividends.
With this backdrop, the Board has authorized $1.6 billion in share repurchases for 2021, beginning in the first quarter.
We believe this will result in expense reductions of approximately $210 million during the year.

Summary:
Earnings were $738 million or $1.24 per diluted share, an increase of $0.09 over last year.
Net interest income decreased 9% from last year primarily driven by an 11% decrease in interest and fees on loan receivables due to the impact of COVID-19.