ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Showing a double-digit drop, November U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings fell by 12 percent year-over-year, coming in at 100,980 nationwide, according to the latest study from the American Bankruptcy Institute.

November’s rate represents a significant drop from the same month last year, which saw 114,587 total consumer filings.

According to ABI officials, the decrease in filings has a direct correlation to the deleveraging or reduction of consumer debt.

"The drop in consumer filings throughout the year reflects the continued deleveraging of the U.S. consumer after years of expanding consumer debt," said ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano.

"We anticipate that there will be less than 1.4 million overall consumer bankruptcy filings by year end,” he added.

This past month’s consumer filings also represented a 5-percent decrease from the 106,255 filings reported in October.

Breaking the data down further, Chapter 13 filings made up 31 percent of all consumer cases in November, marking a slight decrease from October.