I have customer calling to say she just got around to checking her statements and is questioning ATM withdrawals from 10/11/03, 10/18/03, 01/13/04, 01/24/04.... saying, "I know I didn't go to those ATMS". Grrrrrrr.... Would we be out of compliance if I told her to stick it in her ear (of course in a very nice way!).

You may cordially invite your customer to insert her inquiry in her auditory canal if she is making an error claim under 205.11, since 205.11 won't be available to her because of her tardiness.

If, however, she claims she did not authorize the ATM transactions in question, you will have to consider whether or not she did, in fact, authorize them. A claim for unauthorized transfers can be made at any time.

Do, however, be aware that the claim may be subject to the 60-day limit in section 205.6. Depending on when the statement showing the 10/18/03 withdrawal was delivered, the January transactions might be the customer's responsibility.

Finally, based on the pattern of ATM use, and whether or not you're able to recover any evidence from the network of who did the transactions, you may decide that the transactions were authorized after all.

And then you can stop biting your tongue.