Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. pushed production and earnings to a record during the third quarter.

The nonprime residential lender's mortgage origination volume of $4.5 billion rose 10% from the second quarter and an astounding 40% from the year-ago third quarter, according to Accredited's earnings announcement Tuesday.

Consistent with prior periods, wholesale loans accounted for 90% of the latest volume and retail loans represented the rest, Accredited said.

In the remaining period of the year, the San Diego-based company said it expects "volume consistent with or slightly higher than the previous two quarters."

As the total serviced portfolio rose during the period to $9.2 billion at Sept 30, the 30+ day delinquency rate of 1.95% increased 16 PBS from the previous three-month period, according to the announcement.

The nonprime lender said its net cost to originate mortgage loans was a record low of 1.57%, compared to 1.92% in the second quarter.

"These third quarter results demonstrate the effect of our unwavering focus on reducing costs to drive profitability," Chairman and CEO James Konrath said in the announcement.

Accordingly, Accredited announced it achieved milestone net income of $41.3 million in the third quarter.