Record mortgage revenue in the third quarter helped BancorpSouth Inc. double its third-quarter earnings from a year earlier.

On Thursday, the parent company of BancorpSouth Bank reported quarterly net income of $23.8 million, or 25 cents a share, compared to $11.9 million, or 14 cents a share, for the same quarter a year earlier.

Also boosting earnings for the quarter was the credit loss provision of $6 million, down from $25.1 million a year ago. Nonperforming loans also dropped 31.8 percent, or $115.5 million, from last year.

BancorpSouth’s net interest revenue declined 4.4 percent to $103.4 million from a year earlier. Net interest margin was 3.55 percent, compared to 3.66 percent.

Total assets were unchanged at $13.2 billion, while total deposits fell 0.8 percent to $11 billion. Loans and leases fell 4.2 percent to $8.7 billion.

Net charge-offs for the quarter were $12.8 million, compared to $23.1 million in 2011.

Nonperforming loans, at $247.3 million, were 2.85 percent of net loans and leases. That compares to $362.8 million , or 4.01 percent, of net loans and leases of a year ago. The allowance for credit losses was $169 million, or 1.95 percent of net loans and leases, versus $199.7 million, or 2.21 percent of net loans and leases.

The noninterest revenue jump was powered by mortgage origination volume of $607.9 million. In the year-ago third quarter, that figure was $374.8 million. Excluding the MSR valuation adjustments of $3.2 million in this year’s quarter and $11.7 million in 2011, net mortgage lending revenue was $16.8 million. In 2011, that figure was $10.2 million.

BancorpSouth’s credit and debit card fee revenue fell from $13 million to $8.3 million. Service charge revenue dropped from $17.3 million to $14.2 million, while insurance commission revenue increased from $22 million to $23.5 million.

BancorpSouth said it remains a “well capitalized” financial holding company, as defined by federal regulations, with Tier 1 risk-based capital of 13.55 percent and total risk-based capital of 14.81 percent, compared with required minimum levels of 6 percent and 10 percent, respectively, for “well capitalized” classification.