Discover Financial Services today reported net income of $649 million for the third quarter of 2011, as compared to $261 million for the third quarter of 2010.

Third Quarter Highlights: Discover card sales volume was an all-time record of $26.3 billion in the quarter, up 9% from the prior year. Total loans grew 8% from the prior year to $54.1 billion and were up 3% from the prior quarter, with credit card loans up 2% from the prior year and 3% from the prior quarter. The delinquency rate for credit card loans over 30 days past due continued to decline reaching a new record low of 2.43%. The credit card net charge-off rate declined to 3.85%. Payment Services pretax income was $38 million. Transaction volume for the segment was $45 billion in the quarter, an increase of 15% from the prior year. The company repurchased 8.4 million shares in the third quarter for $198 million.