Interest Expense. Total interest expense decreased $478,000, or 52.9%, to $426,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2021 from $904,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2020. The decrease was primarily due to a $261,000, or 65.7%, reduction in interest expense on FHLB advances to $136,000 in the six months ended June 30, 2021 compared to $397,000 in the six months ended June 30, 2020. As a result of the prepayment of FHLB advances in the fourth quarter of 2020, the average balance of our FHLB advances was $8.9 million during the six months ended June 30, 2021 compared to $25.0 million during the six months ended June 30, 2020. Interest expense on deposits was $290,000 during the six months ended June 30, 2021, a $217,000, or 42.8%, reduction compared to $507,000 of interest expense on deposits in the six months ended June 30, 2020. While the average balance of our total deposits increased by $16.9 million, or 13.2%, to $145.2 million in the six months ended June 30, 2021 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2020, the average rate paid on deposits decreased by 39 basis points to 0.40% in the first six months of 2021 compared to the first six months of 2020.
Net Interest Income. Net interest income was $3.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, a decrease of $102,000, or 3.0%, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2020. Our interest rate spread decreased to 2.93% for the six months ended June 30, 2021 from 2.94% for the six months ended June 30, 2020, and our net interest margin decreased to 3.09% for the six months ended June 30, 2021 from 3.26% for the six months ended June 30, 2020. The decreases in interest rate spread and net interest margin primarily reflect the effects of the continuing low interest rate environment.
Provision for Loan Losses. We recorded a $286,000 reversal to the allowance for loan losses for the six months ended June 30, 2021, compared to a $65,000 provision to the allowance for the six months ended June 30, 2020. The reversal during the six months ended June 30, 2021 resulted from our analysis of the factors described in “– Critical Accounting Policies – Allowance for Loan Losses.”
Non-interest Income. Non-interest income increased $230,000, or 64.4%, to $587,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2021 from $357,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2020. The increase was primarily due to a $208,000 increase in other non-interest income, primarily related to an increase in SBA fee income.
Non-interest Expense. Non-interest expense increased $529,000, or 16.7%, to $3.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021 from $3.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020. The increase was due primarily to a $389,000 increase in salaries and employee benefit expense, due in part to new employee hires, a $71,000 increase in occupancy and equipment expense, primarily reflecting expense related to the additional branch office that we opened in 2020, a $66,000 increase in legal and accounting expense, a $50,000 increase in computer services expense, primarily reflecting systems upgrades, and a $50,000 loss incurred due to a wire transfer fraud resulting from the hacking of a customer’s email account. These increases were partially offset by a $35,000 reduction in advertising and marketing expense and a $16,000 reduction in net foreclosed assets expense in the six months ended June 30, 2021 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2020.
Income Tax Expense. Income tax expense decreased $46,000 to $93,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2021 compared to $139,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2020. The decrease resulted primarily from lower income before income taxes and increased non-taxable income.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
St. Landry Homestead maintains levels of liquid assets deemed adequate by management. We adjust our liquidity levels to fund deposit outflows, repay our borrowings, and to fund loan commitments. We also adjust liquidity, as appropriate, to meet asset and liability management objectives.