Shabbat 79A

עד שיאמר לוה ״פרעתי״ ו״לא פרעתי״.

It means: Until the debtor says: I repaid the debt, or, I did not repay the debt. If the debtor says: I repaid the debt in the promissory note and there are no witnesses to ratify the document in court, the document has no value. That is the opinion of the Rabbis who hold that an unratified document cannot force a debtor to pay. According to R' Yehuda, who holds that a document need not be ratified, the debtor’s claim that he repaid the debt is not accepted and the creditor can collect his debt with the unratified promissory note.

רבא אמר: דכולי עלמא מודה בשטר שכתבו ⁠— שצריך לקיימו, והכא בכותבין שובר קמיפלגי: תנא קמא סבר כותבין שובר, ורבי יהודה סבר אין כותבין שובר. רב אשי אמר: מפני שצריך להראותו לבעל חוב שני, דאמר ליה: חזי, גברא דפרע אנא.

Rava said: Everyone agrees that when a debtor admits that he wrote a promissory note, the creditor must ratify it in court. And here, it is with regard to the question whether or not one writes a receipt that they disagree. The first tanna holds: One writes a receipt for a promissory note that was repaid. Since the debtor has the receipt in his possession, the creditor may keep the note and use it as paper. And R' Yehuda holds: One does not write a receipt. Therefore, the creditor is required to return the note to the debtor immediately upon repayment of the debt. It is in the interest of the debtor to destroy the document, and he has no reason to keep it. Rav Ashi said: The dispute is with regard to a case where the debtor carried out the promissory note into the public domain. R' Yehuda said he is liable because he needs the repaid document to show it to a second creditor, as he says to him: Look, I am a man who repays his debts.