A mortgage of record is cleared by recording a mortgage satisfaction, often called a satisfaction piece. A payoff statement shows the amount needed to pay the loan, but it does not release the lien from the land records. The original note evidences the debt and may be marked paid, but it is not the recorded release instrument. A certified copy of the original mortgage only proves the existence or contents of the recorded mortgage; it does not satisfy it. Pennsylvania’s Mortgage Satisfaction Act states that mortgages are satisfied by satisfaction pieces or, in residential cases, settlement officer satisfactions, and that the recording officer indexes them against the mortgagee or last assignee.