EXHIBIT 31.1

                                  CERTIFICATION


      I, Hugh Miller,  President and Chief Executive  Officer of Delta Financial
Corporation (the "Company"), certify that:

     1.   I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of the Company;

     2.   Based on my  knowledge,  this  quarterly  report  does not contain any
          untrue  statement of a material  fact or omit to state a material fact
          necessary to make the statements  made, in light of the  circumstances
          under which such  statements were made, not misleading with respect to
          the period covered by this quarterly report;

     3.   Based on my knowledge,  the financial statements,  and other financial
          information  included in this quarterly report,  fairly present in all
          material respects the financial  condition,  results of operations and
          cash flows of the  Company as of, and for,  the periods  presented  in
          this quarterly report;

     4.   The  Company's  other  certifying  officer and I are  responsible  for
          establishing  and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as
          defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15e and 15d-15e) for the Company and
          we have:

          (a) designed such disclosure  controls and procedures,  or caused such
              disclosure  controls  and  procedures  to be  designed  under  our
              supervision,  to ensure that material  information relating to the
              Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
              us by others within those entities, particularly during the period
              in which this quarterly report is being prepared;

          (b) evaluated the effectiveness of the Company's  disclosure  controls
              and  procedures  and  presented  in  this  quarterly   report  our
              conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
              procedures,  as of the end of the period covered by this quarterly
              report based on such evaluation;

          (c) disclosed  in this  report  any change in the  Company's  internal
              control  over  financial   reporting  that  occurred   during  the
              Company's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected,
              or is  reasonably  likely  to  materially  affect,  the  Company's
              internal control over financial reporting; and

     5.   The Company's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,  based on
          our  most  recent   evaluation  of  internal  control  over  financial
          reporting,  to the Company's  auditors and the audit  committee of the
          Company's  board of directors (or persons  performing  the  equivalent
          functions):
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          (a) all significant  deficiencies and material  weakness in the design
              or operation of internal  control over financial  reporting  which
              are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Company's ability to
              record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

          (b)any fraud,  whether or not material,  that  involves  management or
              other  employees  who  have a  significant  role in the  Company's
              internal control over financial reporting.

      Date: November 13, 2003

                                        By:/S/ HUGH MILLER
                                           ------------------------------
                                           Hugh Miller
                                           PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER



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