Man makes final house payment in pennies

Derek McLean photo/courtesy MetroWestDailyNews.com

Apparently all that loose change collecting in the couch cushions pays off: A Massachusetts man who vowed to pay his last mortgage payment in pennies made good on the pledge.

Thirty-five years after purchasing the house, one Thomas Daigle and his wife, Sandra, walked into Milford Federal Savings and Loan Association--after alerting the bank to their plan--with 62,000 pennies in two steel crates weighing approximately 400 pounds apiece.

The twosome had moved into the Milford home, where they still live, in 1977. The last payment was delivered on April 24, the couple's anniversary, which Daigle said was a coincidence.

The penny pincher, who still picks up the coppers on the street, saved 2.5 pennies a day, which he put toward the house payment. The saver raised two daughters and now enjoys four grandchildren, who, he tells, "Pennies add up."

[Related: Renters squeezed by higher prices]

News of the penny-paid home quickly caught the attention of Twitter. Comments included one from whiiiiiiner ‏@Sessahhh
"Lololol. I'm gonna do this.... in approx 22 years."

And an admiring post from GypsyDesert, "Looking after the pennies."

Daigle isn't the first to pay with pennies. Yahoo! News reported a story with less happy results of a man fined for attempting to pay a $25 medical clinic fee with 2,500 one-cent pieces. (A post to Yahoo! Answers points out that pennies cannot be refused for payment if cash is accepted. )

Why pennies? Daigle told the Milford Daily News he wanted to make his last payment "memorable." Mission very accomplished.

More Inventive Ways To Spend Your Pennies: