Let the good times roll. Those 0% APR credit cards are back. For more than a year credit card companies have been slashing credit lines and raising rates to astronomical levels. Much of the delinquencies have been wrung out of the system. Delinquency rates are down 26% from a year ago.

With that pressure lifted, card companies are sending out 0% promotion letters to customers with credit scores 720 or higher, as reported in Smart Money and the Wall Street Journal. The number of promotions is up 71% from 53%. Promotions are for a longer period, 21 months instead of the 12 months last year.

Analysts were shocked to learn that consumer credit fell by $21.6 billion when they were looking for only a $4 billion dollar drop.

Consumer credit outstanding fell at a 10.4% rate in July to $2.47 trillion. In June, total credit tumbled $15.5 billion, again topping estimates. Analysts had expected a drop of $10.3 billion.

Nonrevolving credit, which includes loans for big ticket items like cars, boats, college education, and holidays, plunged a record $15.5 billion or at an 11.7% rate to $1.6 trillion.