For the source text click/tap here: Bava Metzia 65
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As we have seen on the previous dapim, when offering a discount on a sale for pre-payment, there may be a problem of ribit (forbidden interest), since the pre-payment can be viewed as a loan, and by offering a discount, the merchant may be seen as repaying more than he received.
The Mishna on our daf teaches that there is a difference between offering a discount on rent and offering a discount on a purchase.
If one sold another a field and received partial payment, and then told the buyer that whenever he wants, he should bring the rest of the money and take the field, it is forbidden. If one made a loan to someone using his field as security, and he (the lender) said to him, “If you do not pay me back within three years, the field will belong to me, this is permitted.
This is how Baysos ben Zunin would lend money upon the advice of the Sages.
We continue our review of usury and predatory lending practices…
