We posted $22.2 million of net income or $2.11 of diluted EPS, with very attractive returns of 7.1% ROA and 31.6% ROE.
We continue to grow our market share and once again experienced double-digit year-over-year growth in our net finance receivables and quarterly revenue, which were up 24% and 23%, respectively.
We generated record sequential portfolio growth of $131 million in the quarter, leading to another all-time high in net finance receivables and quarterly revenue.
At the same time, we've derisked the business by investing heavily in our custom underwriting models and shifting more than 82% of our portfolio to higher-quality loans at or below 36% APR, enabling us to maintain a stable credit profile as we grow and deliver predictable superior results for our shareholders.
In the third quarter, delinquency increased in line with expectations as government stimulus waned, but it's 4.7%, our 30-plus day delinquency rate is on par with the prior year and 180 basis points below third quarter 2019 levels.
Our net credit loss rate during the quarter was 5%, the lowest in our history as a public company, a 280 basis point improvement from the prior-year period and a 310 basis point improvement from the third quarter of 2019.
We originated a record $421 million of loans in the third quarter, which was up 35% over last year and 19% above 2019 pre-pandemic levels.
This includes $129 million derived from our new growth initiatives.
New digital volumes represented 28% of our total new borrower volume, with 57% originated as large loans.
Near the end of the quarter, we entered Utah as we expanded our operations to the western U.S. As a reminder, we entered Illinois in the second quarter and as of the end of October, our first branch has reached $2.8 million in receivables in six months, and the four branches in the state have exceeded $9 million in receivables.
In the coming months, we expect to enter a new state and open 10 new branches across our network, and we have plans to enter an additional five to seven new states by the end of 2022.
To that end, we closed 31 branches in the fourth quarter, where there were clear opportunities to consolidate operations into a larger branch in close proximity, while still providing our customers with the best-in-class service they've come to expect.
These branch optimization actions will generate approximately $2.2 million in annual savings, which we'll reinvest in our expansion into new states.
In October, we closed a five-year $125 million private securitization transaction at a fixed coupon of 3.875%, which enables us to fund loans above and below 36% APR.
Following the October securitization, our fixed rate debt as a percentage of total debt increased from 78% to 87%, with a weighted average coupon of 2.7% and an average revolving duration of nearly three years.
Following the transaction, we also maintained $350 million of interest rate caps with strike rates of 25 to 50 basis points, covering $133 million in variable rate debt and future portfolio funding.
As of September 30, approximately 87% of our portfolio had been originated since April 2020.
Consistent with our loan portfolio growth, we built our allowance for credit losses by $10.7 million in the third quarter.
And as a result, our allowance for credit losses reserve rate at the end of the quarter was 11.4%.
Our $150.1 million of allowance for credit losses as of September 30 continues to compare quite favorably to our 30-plus day contractual delinquency of $61.3 million and includes a $15.5 million reserve for additional credit losses associated with COVID-19.
We released only $2 million of our COVID-related reserves in the third quarter as we continue to maintain a conservative stance as we monitor the impact of the delta variant, the pace of the economic recovery and the health of the consumer as the benefits of government assistance continue to dissipate.
Looking ahead, absent any significant changes to the macroeconomic environment, we expect that our fourth quarter and full year 2021 NCL rates will be below 7%.
Our allowance for credit losses will increase in the fourth quarter as the portfolio continues to grow, and we now anticipate that the reserve rate will return to pre-pandemic levels of around 10.8% by roughly mid-2022.
Assuming the economic recovery remains on track, we believe that credit performance should remain strong into next year and that our 2022 NCL rate will be at or below 8.5% even as delinquencies continue to normalize off the recent historically low levels.
Based on our third quarter results, we're raising our expectations for full year 2021 net income to between 85 and $87 million, up from our prior range of $75 million to $80 million.
Our revised outlook reflects our strong third quarter core portfolio growth of 25.4% over the prior-year period, which outpaced the broader market.
Our outlook also assumes the year-end net finance receivables will be approximately $1.4 billion, providing a strong jump-off point as we enter 2022 and further demonstrating the power of our omnichannel model.
We generated net income of $22.2 million and diluted earnings per share of $2.11, driven by significant portfolio and revenue growth, stable operating expenses, low funding costs, and a healthy credit profile.
The business continued to produce attractive returns with 7.1% ROA and 31.6% ROE this quarter and 7.8% ROA and 32.4% ROE year to date.
As illustrated on Page 4, branch originations were well above the prior year as we originated $268 million of branch loans in the third quarter, 18% higher than the prior-year period and 3% higher than 2019.
Meanwhile, direct mail and digital originations also increased nicely year over year to $152 million, 80% higher than the prior year and 66% higher than 2019.
Our total originations were a record $421 million, up 35% from the prior-year period and 19% higher than 2019.
Notably, our new growth initiatives drove $129 million of third quarter originations and have become a significant factor in our accelerating expansion.
Page 5 displays our portfolio growth and mix trends through September 30.
We closed the quarter with net finance receivables of $1.3 billion, up $131 million from the prior quarter and $255 million from the prior-year period as we continue to successfully execute on our omnichannel strategy, new growth initiatives, and marketing efforts.
Our core loan portfolio grew $132 million or 11% from the prior quarter and $263 million or 25% from the prior-year period as we continue to take market share.
Large loans and small loans grew 12% and 10% on a sequential basis.
For the fourth quarter, we expect demand to remain strong and to generate healthy quarter-over-quarter growth in our finance receivables portfolio, resulting in year-end net finance receivables of approximately $1.4 billion.
On Page 6, we show our digitally sourced originations which were 28% of our new borrower volume in the third quarter as we continue to meet the needs of our customers through our omnichannel strategy.
During the third quarter large loans were 57% of our new digitally sourced originations.
Turning to Page 7.
Total revenue grew 23% to a record $111.5 million.
Interest and fee yield increased 50 basis points year over year, primarily due to improved credit performance across the portfolio, resulting in fewer loans and nonaccrual status and fewer interest accrual reversals.
Sequentially, interest and fee yield and total revenue yield each increased 40 basis points due to credit performance and the growth in our small loan portfolio in the third quarter.
As of September 30, 67% of our portfolio was comprised of large loans and 82% of our portfolio had an APR at or below 36%.
In the fourth quarter, we expect total revenue yield to be approximately 70 basis points lower than the third quarter and our interest and fee yield to be approximately 50 basis points lower due to the continued mix shift toward larger loans and the impact of nonaccrual loans as credit continues to normalize.
Moving to Page 8.
Our net credit loss rate was 5% for the third quarter, a 280 basis point improvement year over year.
Net credit losses were also down 240 basis points from the second quarter due to improving economic conditions and our lower delinquency levels.
We continue to expect that our full year net credit loss rate will be below 7%.
Flipping to Page 9.
Our 30-plus day delinquency level as of September 30 was 4.7%, an increase of 110 basis points versus June 30, but comparable to the prior year and 180 basis points below 2019 levels.
Our 90-plus day delinquency level increased only 40 basis points sequentially and remains below third quarter 2020 and 2019 levels.
And we anticipate that our 2022 NCL rate will be at or below 8.5%, even as the historically low delinquencies continue to normalize.
Turning to Page 10.
We ended the second quarter with an allowance for credit losses of $139.4 million or 11.8% of net finance receivables.
During the third quarter of 2021, the allowance increased by $10.7 million to $150.1 million to support our strong portfolio growth, but the allowance as a percentage of net finance receivables decreased to 11.4%.
The allowance increase in the quarter consisted of a base reserve build of $12.7 million to support our portfolio growth and a COVID-related reserve release of $2 million due to improving economic condition.
We continue to maintain a reserve of $15.5 million related to the expected economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We expect that the reserve rate at year-end will be comparable to current levels and will normalize to pre-pandemic levels of approximately 10.8% by around mid-2022.
Our $150.1 million allowance for credit losses as of September 30 continues to compare very favorably to our 30-plus day contractual delinquency of $61.3 million.
Flipping to Page 11.
G&A expenses for the third quarter of 2021 were $47.8 million, up $4 million or 9% from the prior-year period, driven by increased investment in our new growth initiatives, personnel, and omnichannel strategy.
G&A expenses for the third quarter also included $0.7 million of expenses related to the consolidation of 31 branches as a part of the company's branch optimization plan and the $3 million benefit related to the deferral of digital loan origination costs, of which $1.5 million was incremental to the quarter.
On a sequential basis, our G&A expenses rose $1.4 million.
Overall, we expect G&A expenses for the fourth quarter to be approximately $54 million as we continue to invest in our digital capabilities, our geographic expansion into new states and personnel to drive additional sustainable growth and improved operating leverage over the longer term.
Fourth quarter G&A expenses will include an estimated $0.9 million of branch optimization expenses.
Turning to Page 12.
Interest expense was $8.8 million in the third quarter or 2.8% of our average net finance receivables on an annualized basis.
This was a $0.5 million or 70 basis point improvement year over year.
We currently have $450 million of interest rate caps to protect us against rising rates on our variable price debt, which as of the end of third quarter totaled $219 million.
$350 million of the interest rate caps at a one-month LIBOR strike price between 25 and 50 basis points and a weighted average duration of 2.3 years.
Looking ahead, we expect interest rate expense in the fourth quarter to be approximately $10 million, excluding mark-to-market impact on interest rate caps, with the increase in expense attributable to the growth in our loan portfolio.
Page 13 is a reminder of our strong funding profile.
Our third quarter funded debt-to-equity ratio remains at a conservative 3.5 to one.
We continue to maintain a very strong balance sheet with low leverage and $150 million in loan loss reserves.
As of September 30, we had $722 million of unused capacity on our credit facilities and $194 million of available liquidity, consisting of unrestricted cash and immediate availability to draw down our credit facilities.
As a reminder, in October, we closed our seventh securitization, a private $125 million transaction that has a five-year revolving period and a fixed coupon of 3.875%.
The new securitization enables us to pay down higher cost variable rate debt, provides us with additional fixed interest rate certainty, and allows us to fund multiple product types, both above and below 36% APR.
Following the securitization, our fixed rate debt as a percentage of total debt increased from 78% to 87%, with a weighted average coupon of 2.7% and average revolving duration of nearly three years.
Our effective tax rate during the third quarter was 23% compared to 27% in the prior-year period.
For the fourth quarter, we expect an effective tax rate of approximately 25%, excluding discrete items, such as tax impacts associated with equity compensation.
The company's board of directors has declared a dividend of $0.25 per common share for the fourth quarter of 2021.
In addition, during the quarter, we repurchased 390,112 shares of our common stock at a weighted average price of $56.32 per share under our $50 million stock repurchase program.

Summary:
We posted $22.2 million of net income or $2.11 of diluted EPS, with very attractive returns of 7.1% ROA and 31.6% ROE.
We generated net income of $22.2 million and diluted earnings per share of $2.11, driven by significant portfolio and revenue growth, stable operating expenses, low funding costs, and a healthy credit profile.
Total revenue grew 23% to a record $111.5 million.