On one hand the Gemara [Ksubos 86a] establishes that פריעת בעל חוב מצוה - It is a mitzva to pay back a debt.
On the other hand [Bava Basra 5b]:
אמר ריש לקיש הקובע זמן לחבירו ואמר לו פרעתיך בתוך זמני אינו נאמן ולואי שיפרע בזמנו.
Reish Lakish says: If a lender set a time for another to repay the loan that he had extended to him and when the debt came due the borrower said to the lender: I already repaid you within the time, he is not deemed credible, as people do not ordinarily repay their debts before they are due. The lender would be happy if the borrower would only repay his debt on time.
First Reish Lakish lays down a rule with halachic ramifications: A person generally doesn't pay back a loan before the due date and if he claims that he did then he is not believed. Then he adds words that have seemingly no halachic import: Halevai he should pay it back on time!!
If you speak to people who run Gemachs they will tell you how hard it is for people to pay back loans. I heard that some Gemachs had to close down because of people who didn't pay their debts.
Let us never need to borrow חס ושלום חס ושלום חס ושלום - but if we ever do, let's try to fulfill this mitzva with זריזות as we would any other.
לפום צערא אגרא!!!!😊😊
