Revenue was up 17% from the prior quarter, also a record; reflecting double-digit growth in both loans and deposits as well as broad-based growth of our fee-based businesses, driven by strength in our capital markets businesses, cards and payments businesses and consumer mortgage.
Our consumer mortgage business demonstrated continued momentum with record second-quarter performance: originations of $2.2 billion were up 100% year over yeaR and consumer mortgage fee income of $62 million more than tripled from last year.
We were the seventh overall lender in the program and processed over $8 billion in funding to support our clients.
Net charge-offs for the third quarter were 36 basis points.
Our allowance to loan losses as a percentage of period-end loans now stands at 1.61% or 1.73%, excluding PPP loans.
In the second quarter, our common equity Tier 1 ratio increased to 9.1%, which is within our targeted range of 9% to 9.5%.
Earlier this month, our Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.185 per share for the third quarter, and that is consistent with our second-quarter level.
As Chris said, we reported second-quarter net income from continuing operations of $0.16 per common share.
Notable this quarter was our provision expense that exceeded net charge-offs by $386 million or $0.34 per share.
Turning to Slide 6, total average loans were $108 billion, up 19% from the second quarter of last year, driven by growth in both commercial and consumer loans.
Commercial loans reflected an increase of over $8 billion in PPP balances or $6 billion on an average basis.
Laurel Road originated $700 million of student consolidation loans this quarter, and we generated $2.2 billion from residential mortgage loans.
Linked-quarter average loan balances were up 12%.
Average deposits totaled $128 billion for the second quarter of 2020, up $18 billion or 17%, compared to the year-ago period, and up 16% from the prior quarter.
Total interest-bearing deposit costs came down 39 basis points from the prior quarter, reflecting the impact of lower interest rates and the associated lag in pricing.
We would expect deposit costs to continue to decline approximately 15 basis points in the third quarter.
We continue to have strong, stable core deposit base with consumer deposits accounting for over 60% of our total deposit mix.
taxable equivalent net interest income was $1.025 billion for the second quarter of 2020, compared to $989 million in both the year ago and prior quarter.
Our net interest margin was 2.76% for the second quarter of 2020, compared with 3.06% in the same period a year -- last year, and 3.01% from the prior quarter.
Compared to the prior quarter, net interest income increased $36 million, driven by higher earning asset balances, partially offset by a lower net interest margin.
Liquidity levels negatively impacted the margin by 12 basis points.
Noninterest income was $692 million for the second quarter of 2020, compared to $622 million for the year-ago period and $477 million in the first quarter.
Compared to the year-ago period, noninterest income increased $70 million.
The primary driver was an increase of $47 million in consumer mortgage business with a record level of loan originations and related fees in the second quarter of 2020.
Cards and payments income also increased $18 million related to prepaid card activity from state government support programs, and operating lease expense increased $16 million, driven by gains from leveraged leases.
Service charges on deposit accounts declined $15 million from the year-ago period, reflecting lower activity levels and a larger number of fee waivers.
Compared to the first quarter of 2020, noninterest income increased by $215 million.
The largest driver was -- of the quarterly increase was an improvement in other income, primarily driven by $92 million of market-related valuation adjustments in the first quarter of 2020.
Other significant drivers of the quarter-over-quarter increase included the record consumer mortgage quarter and leveraged lease gains that I had already discussed as well as a $40 million increase in investment banking and debt placement fees, driven by strong commercial mortgage and debt capital markets activity.
Total noninterest expense for the quarter was $1.013 billion, compared to $1.019 billion last year and $931 million in the prior quarter.
The year-ago quarter included $52 million of notable items, primarily personnel-related costs associated with our efficiency initiatives.
Excluding these, expenses were up $46 million from the year-ago period.
The increase is primarily related to two main drivers, $25 million of payments-related expenses incurred in the current quarter as well as $13 million of COVID-19-related costs due to steps that the company has taken to ensure the health and safety of our teammates.
Compared to the prior quarter, noninterest expense increased $82 million.
Other drivers of the linked-quarter increase included $25 million of payments related to cost and other COVID-19-related expenses.
Our provision for credit losses exceeded net charge-offs by $386 million or $0.34 per share.
Net charge-offs were $96 million or 36 basis points of average total loans.
Nonperforming loans were $760 million this quarter or 72 basis points of period-end loans, compared to $632 million or 61 basis points in the prior quarter.
Additionally, delinquencies remained relatively stable, with less than a 1% increase in our 30- to 89-day past dues and the 90-day plus category declining quarter over quarter.
As of June 30th, loans subject to forbearance terms were around 2% based on a number of accounts for both commercial and consumer loans, and about 4.5% when using outstanding balances.
This quarter, our common equity Tier 1 ratio increased from 8.9% to 9.1%, which places us back in the targeted range of 9% to 9.5%.
As Chris mentioned earlier this month, our Board of Directors approved a third quarter common dividend of $0.185 per share, which was consistent with our second-quarter dividend level.
Net charge-offs are expected to be in the 50 to 60-basis-point range.

Summary:
Our allowance to loan losses as a percentage of period-end loans now stands at 1.61% or 1.73%, excluding PPP loans.
As Chris said, we reported second-quarter net income from continuing operations of $0.16 per common share.
Average deposits totaled $128 billion for the second quarter of 2020, up $18 billion or 17%, compared to the year-ago period, and up 16% from the prior quarter.
Our provision for credit losses exceeded net charge-offs by $386 million or $0.34 per share.
Net charge-offs were $96 million or 36 basis points of average total loans.