You say this is for a CURRENT contract, which I assume means that you have a
debt outstanding, e.g. a car loan or mortgage. Sometimes, a lender will
sell the loan contract to someone else who then becomes the new lender and
receives the payments etc. Some loan agreements may prohibit the lender
from selling the agreement to someone else, but unless language
to this effect is included in your contract, someone else can purchase the
loan from the original lender. The new lender is
entitled to verify that your address is correct so that they know
where to send the receipt when you make the payment etc., and this letter
seems to be an effort to do this innocuous thing, not an attempt to
collect the debt right away. As you yourself say
The notice's request is only to update billing information on
a CURRENT contract.
While the loan can be sold, the new
lender is not entitled to change the terms of the loan agreement
unilaterally as in "We just bought your car loan from SeedyBank
and guess what, the entire amount owing is due in thirty days
instead of in thirty four monthly installments of $X each."
At least, they cannot change the payment schedule as long as
the loan is in good standing. On the other hand,
if you are delinquent on your loan payments, different
rules apply (which also are the same as the ones you originally
agreed to when you signed the loan agreement), and maybe these
rules do say that the whole amount is due right away
if you are delinquent by more than Y months.
With regard to permission to send e-mail etc., it might
be the case that you agreed to accept electronic statements,
bills, notices, etc. by e-mail in lieu of paper documents in
your original loan agreement, and if so, this agreement
carries over to the new lender. In any case, if your loan
is in default and you have no intention of repaying it
(and this is the reason the loan has been sold to a
collection agency), there will likely be a final notice
delivered by certified mail to your last known address
(your contract most likely specifies your address and
says that delivery by certified mail to this address is
proof that you received the mail, and in case of changes,
you are obligated to inform the lender), and court judgments,
sheriff's orders, etc will come later, and also as paper
documents, not e-mail.
You say that you never received any correspondence from
the company regarding your existing debt. Did you
receive a communication from your original lender saying
that henceforth someone else would be collecting the
payments? (and if so, did you throw it away without
reading it?). If you believe that you do not owe these
guys anything, write back and tell them so. But if the
loan was legitimately sold, you were informed about this
and either have forgotten or ignored the letter, then
there may be more back and forth and headaches to get
the matter resolved.
I am not a lawyer, but based on what you say, I do not
believe that what you received is a collection notice,
and I do not believe that a judge is required to approve
either the original lender's or the new lender's request
for verification or update of the billing address, either
by US Mail or e-mail.
By the way, the language at the bottom might be standard
boilerplate language and disclaimers included in all emails
from the company. All e-mail that you send from your
company account likely also has appropriate legalese at
the bottom included automatically.
