Amid widespread complaints that mortgage loan modification is not moving fast enough, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Wednesday opposed pressure for across-the-board modifications, said bankruptcy reform could prove counterproductive, and painted a relatively upbeat picture of the ability of struggling homeowners to handle interest rate resets.

At a press conference announcing a group of lenders, servicers, and others who have agreed to step up counseling efforts, Mr. Paulson said the group would not consider categorical modifications, signaling that they should be handled on a loan-by-loan basis. ...

Ellen Seidman, director of the Financial Services and Education Project at the New America Foundation and a former director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, said Treasury's announcement fails to make an impact. Doing modifications "on a loan-by-loan basis is not going to work fast enough," she said. "We've got to do something other than - as someone put it - social work."

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