DEARBORN, Mich. — In reporting its second quarter results, Ford Credit revealed that charge-offs have decreased significantly. For the quarter, total charge-offs came in at $41 million, compared to $86 million in the same period of 2010.

Breaking it down even further, Ford Credit said retail installment and lease charge-offs were $41 million in the second quarter, compared to $79 million in the previous year. Wholesale charge-offs accounted for $6 million, compared to $5 million.

The company's total loss to receivable ratio was 0.23 percent for the second quarter, compared to 0.39 percent in the same period of last year.

For the first half of the year, total charge-offs reached $104 million, compared to $219 million in the prior year.

Retail installment and lease charge-offs came in at $2 million for the first half, compared to zero in the same period of 2010. For wholesale charge-offs, they were at $2 million, compared to negative $3 million a year ago.

The overall total loss to receivable ratio for the first half of the year came in at 0.25 percent, compared to 0.49 percent in 2010.

When it comes to contract placements for new and used vehicles, this figure is creeping back up. For the U.S., 219,000 contracts were placed during the quarter, compared to 181,000 in the second quarter of last year.

For the first half of the year, 418,000 was the company's contract placement volume, compared to 356,000 in the prior year.

Looking at Canada, contract placement volume for new and used was at 29,000, compared to 28,000 in the 2010 second quarter.

For the first half, Canadian contract placement volume was 55,000, as compared to 45,000 in 2010.

Full North American volume came in at 248,000, compared to 209,000 in the same quarter of last year.

For the first half, North American contract placement volume was 473,000, compared to 401,000.

Overall, the company reported net income of $383 million for the quarter, down $173 million from a year earlier.

On a pre-tax basis, the company earned $604 million, compared to $888 million in the prior year.

According to management, declines in pre-tax earnings are due to lower credit loss reserve reductions and the non-recurrence of lower lease depreciation expense of the "same magnitude of 2010."

"Ford Credit's business continues to perform well, with low credit losses and strong originations capability," pointed out Mike Bannister, chairman and chief executive officer.

"We continue to succeed in our mission to support Ford sales," he added.

As of June 30, Ford Credit's net receivables came in at $84 billion, compared to $81 billion at year-end 2010.

Meanwhile, managed receivables came in at $86 billion, up from $83 billion at the end of 2010.

"The higher receivables were primarily due to changes in currency exchange rates," management highlighted.

Also, as of June 30, the company's managed leverage was 7.5 to 1. In the second quarter, the company distributed $1 billion to its parent Ford.

For the full year, management revealed they expect to be "solidly profitable but at a lower level than in 2010."

"At year-end 2011, managed receivables are anticipated to be in the range of $82 to $87 billion. Through June 30, 2011, Ford Credit has paid $1.9 billion in distributions to its parent and expects to pay a total of about $3 billion for full-year 2011," management concluded.