DEARBORN, Mich. — Though revenues slipped, Ford Motor Credit Co. saw its net income jump $70 million on a year-over-year basis during the third quarter, the company said Thursday.

Specifically, net income for Ford Credit was $497 million, compared with $427 million in the prior-year period. Before taxes, Ford Credit's income was $766 million, up from $677 million in the third quarter of 2009.

Year-to-date net income has reached $1.58 billion, versus $827 million in the first three quarters of 2009. Meanwhile, pre-tax income through the third quarter was at $2.48 billion, a gain from $1.29 billion in the year-ago period.

Explaining the increases in pre-tax earnings, officials noted: "The increase in pre-tax earnings primarily reflected a lower provision for credit losses and lower depreciation expense for leased vehicles, offset partially by lower volume and the non-recurrence of net gains related to unhedged currency exposure primarily from cross-border intercompany lending."

Moving along, Ford Credit chairman and chief executive officer Mike Bannister offered his commentary, stating: "The quality of our portfolio remains high and, linked with our solid business fundamentals, we continue to support Ford Motor Co.'s business with strong profits and distributions."

As far as revenues, total financing revenue in the third quarter was $2.33 billion, down from $3.04 billion in the year-ago period. Through the first three quarters of 2010, total financing revenue has reached $7.59 billion, down from $9.7 billion a year ago.

As of the end of last month, Ford Credit had $83 billion on-balance sheet net receivables. At the end of 2009, that total was $93 billion.

Meanwhile, when the most recent quarter closed, Ford Credit had $85 billion in managed receivables. At the end of 2009, that total was $95 billion.  

Officials said that receivables declined largely because financing operations for Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda and Volvo had moved away from Ford Credit, as well as the fact that industry and financing volumes in 2009 and 2010 were softer than previous years.

Next up, Ford Credit said its managed leverage was 6.3 to 1 at the end of the third quarter. The company's distribution to Ford Motor Co. was $1 billion in the period. For the fourth quarter, executives project Ford Credit's distribution to the parent company will again total $1 billion.

That would put full-year distribution to the automaker at $2.5 billion.

Looking forward, due to "smaller expected improvements in the provision for credit losses and depreciation expense for leased vehicles," the fourth quarter likely won't be as profitable as it has been in recent periods, officials noted.

Regarding their expectations for next year, the company said it believes it will be "solidly profitable." However, it doesn't believe profits will be as strong as they were this year. This would largely be reflective of non-recurrence of two things: lower lease depreciation expense and credit loss reserve reductions as strong as the ones this year.