"At the end of every seven years" is an idiom meaning "during the seventh year." [1] There is some debate among interpreters whether God wanted the Israelites to terminate debts permanently [2] or only suspend them for a year, as the following quotation argues. [source][source][source]
"The present passage is a further exposition of the Sabbath year release recorded in Exodus 23:10 and Leviticus 25:2-7. The premise of the exposition offered here is that if the land was left unused in the Sabbath year, the landowner would not have money to pay his debts. To alleviate this hardship on the landowner, the debts were to be released for one year during this time. The sense of the word release is not "to cancel," as may be suggested in some English translations (e.g, NIV), but rather "to postpone." The debt was postponed for a year. This provision was not intended for the "foreigner" ( Deuteronomy 15:3); it applied only to those who lived permanently in the land. The "foreigner" was one who stayed only temporarily in the land. Such a one was not a "sojourner," that Isaiah , a non-Israelite who had come to live permanently in the land." [3][source]
I tend to favor the complete cancellation view. [source][source][source]
God values each person equally as an individual. This perspective comes out clearly in this section. God instructed His people to show concern for the welfare of every individual regardless of his or her economic or social position ( Deuteronomy 15:7; cf. Proverbs 11:24). [source][source][source]
"Elsewhere in the ancient Near East men were treated in terms of their status in the community rather than as individuals." [4][source]
The apparent contradiction between Deuteronomy 15:4; Deuteronomy 15:11 is explainable as follows. The statement that "there shall be no poor among you" ( Deuteronomy 15:4) rests on the condition that the Israelites would be completely obedient to God ( Deuteronomy 15:5). The promise of blessing for obedience appears four times in this chapter ( Deuteronomy 15:4; Deuteronomy 15:6; Deuteronomy 15:10; Deuteronomy 15:18). The statement that "the poor will never cease to be in the land" ( Deuteronomy 15:11) expresses what would really exist since Israel would not be completely obedient. It also represents what would exist among Israel"s neighbor nations even if Israel was completely obedient. [source][source][source]
"In Deuteronomy , poverty did not just happen. It was the result of conscious decisions that people made to ignore the divine will for Israel as expressed in the covenant." [5][source]
". . . poverty among Yahweh"s vassals was a disgrace . . ." [6][source]