WILMINGTON, Del. – Credit card company MBNA Corp. posted a 21 percent jump in second-quarter profit, citing higher fee income and stronger credit quality.

Wilmington-based MBNA Thursday reported net income of $660.3 million, or 51 cents a share, compared with $543.3 million, or 42 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had been expecting second-quarter earnings of 48 cents a share.

For the first six months of the year, MBNA, the world’s largest independent credit card lender, had net income of $1.18 billion, or 90 cents a share, up 20 percent from the $975.9 million, or 75 cents a share, a year before.

As of quarter’s end, MBNA had $30.5 billion in loan receivables, up $1.2 billion from a year ago. Managed loans stood at $118.2 billion, a jump of $7.7 billion, or 7 percent, from a year earlier.

Signifying the improvement in credit quality, the company said its provision for possible credit losses was $94.0 million lower in the latest quarter than it was in second-quarter 2003.

The company added 2.5 million new accounts during the latest quarter.