US man pays off mortgage with pennies

Washington, July 7 (ANI): A man in the US paid the last installment of his mortgage loan with pennies.

Thomas Daigle from Milford, Massachusetts carted more than 62,000 pennies to make his last payment to the bank.

"Thirty-five years ago when my wife and I took out our mortgage for our first home I happened to pick up a penny in a parking lot," ABC News quoted him as saying.

"I said, I'm going to pay our last mortgage in pennies," he said.

And, that's exactly he did, in all about 427 pounds of pennies at 145 pennies to the pound, though pennies minted after 1982 weigh in at 181 to the pound. Daigle said that he didn't weigh them.

The 60-year-old, who would place his change and keys in a bowl each night, would sift through the change and save his pennies.

On a rainy or snowy night in central Massachusetts, Daigle used to roll three to five packs of pennies and place them in a box in the basement.

Along with the pennies in a box downstairs, he also kept a scrap of paper with a running tab of the amount of rolls stored in the boxes downstairs.

"After a few years of rolling pennies, I said this is a doable thing to pay my mortgage off in pennies," Daigle said.

In April, the co-owner of Joseph and Thomas Opticians brought the boxes of pennies around to the back at Milford Federal Savings and Loan Association and made his final payment on the loan on his 35th wedding anniversary.

Daigle had warned the bank before coming in with the coppers. A long-time customer, he had opened a savings account at the bank when he was 10 years old using money he made from mowing lawns.

At the time, one of his lawn customers was a teller named Mary, who worked at the bank.

"When it was time to get married and buy a house, this is the bank we wanted to use," Daigle, who married his high school sweetheart Sandra in 1977, said.

"We're a local community bank and we've been in business for many years," a spokesperson for Milford Federal Savings and Loan Association , said.

"We are celebrating our 125th birthday this year.

Daigle "has been a customer of ours for a very long time and we were very pleased that he was able to accomplish his goals. It was a proud day for him. We are happy about that," the spokesperson said.

Daigle said that his wife Sandra merely shakes her head and says "that's my husband," when asked about the penny savings.

"I'm a man of my word and I'm a man of commitment," Daigle said.

"There is one thing you have in life: it's your word. If you say you're going to do something, do it.

Daigle said that he's no longer saving pennies.

"I never saved anything in my life other than pennies," he added.

While coming in to the office, Daigle said that he stumbled upon a penny and picked it up. He said that he's hoping his lunch total is an odd number so that he can get rid of it.

"I'm saving nothing. I'm not leaving my children with any kind of mess to clean away.

"I'm collecting grandchildren. I have four grandchildren. I live for them," he said. (ANI)