WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – A District of Columbia federal judge now has arguments from both sides in the dispute over whether a new rule changing how mortgage data is collected is “arbitrary and capricious.” The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on April 2 defended its Home Mortgage Disclosure rule, published last May. It raises the loan-volume thresholds at which financial institutions are required to report data about closed-end mortgage loans and open-end lines of credit. It raises those thresholds from a rule published five years ago, but it will interfere with the ability to make sure lenders are meeting the housing needs of their communities, says a coalition of plaintiffs led by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.