Thank You Sallie Mae.

Normally I would never, ever, EVER, utter those words, but this once I'm allowing it.

I installed TurboTax and started preparing my returns. I knew I wouldn't owe any money unlike last year. I really needed to have a good idea how much of a refund I would get back. Any refund is going towards the VISA bill I racked up during my multi-year job hunt. I'm at the point I can see the light at the end of credit card tunnel. If my refund can accelerate my debt relief by a few months it'll be worth it.

I place all my tax documents into a folder, but I didn't have anything from Sallie Mae concerning student loan interest. I ran the numbers I had and TurboTax said I had a good federal refund, but owed the state money. WTF! Is my home state taxing the hell out of me or is the W-4 situation all screwed up?

I went back to my inbox and rummaged through the old mail. I found the Sallie Mae envelope. Problem: it didn't say important tax information, but merely, "important information about your student loan." Hell that's usually something somebody wants to sell you so usually I confirm that's a sales pitch and then shred it.

There was how much student loan interest I paid. I plugged the numbers into TurboTax and suddenly life got really good. The proposed fed refund is now very sweet and the state owes me some pocket change now. How sweet is my refund now? The added numbers will allow me to pay off VISA an extra month early. The combined refund will take off an entire season. But for my student loans I could be officially debt free by the fall. I'm looking forward to that. A net worth of zero will be a good thing and be like my old pre-law school days of no debt. I miss those days.

Light at the end of the tunnel indeed. Who knew working on taxes could be a good thing.