Hope Now, an organization composed of community advocacy groups, investors, and lenders, announced that they had prevented over 239,000 foreclosures last month. Their total for 2008 was 2.3 million. The amount of homes being foreclosed is also slowly declining. Over 917,964 homes were lost in 2008: with the last months amounting to 77,000 in October, 69,000 in November, and 55,608 in December. The director for Hope Now, Faith Schwartz, commented on these results saying, "The December results demonstrate that Hope Now members are moving aggressively to do what's needed to avoid preventable foreclosures,". She also attributed the low December numbers to lenders being more lenient on repossession during the holidays, and the foreclosure moratoriums recently enacted by many lenders such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. She was also quick to mention the very low mortgage interest rates that are suitable for refinancing, saying "That's very helpful for homeowners who have good credit and are not underwater,...They can refinance into more affordable loans."

Of course while these results are positive, there are still many problems to confront. Jim Carr, the CEO for the National Community Reinvestment Coaliton, which assists in foreclosure-prevention counseling, remarked that "There's an overwhelming preponderance of data that confirms that these voluntary loan modifications simply don't work,".  The U.S. Comptroller of the Currency recently found that 53% of borrowers with mortgage modifications in the first half of 2008 are already about 2 months delinquent. Car stated that, "The redefault rate is growing, home prices are tumbling, repossessions may be down but the projections for future foreclosures are going through the roof,". A Credit Suisse reported forecasted that over 8 million homeowners could be faced with foreclosures over the coming 5 years. In his opinion, "We're way beyond voluntary modifications now,...This is an unemployment-induced foreclosure problem and it will swamp Hope Now's efforts. Their staff is working so hard, but it's not anything they can control." Also, loan modification can only do so much, with unemployment rising no payment is affordable. Unemployment is now seen as the main factor behind home owners becoming delinquent on their mortgages.