A West Wollongong man who went on a spending spree with a stolen credit card racked up a $1540 bill in less than 36 hours.

The owner of the Greater Bank Visa debit card told police she lost the card sometime between 6.30pm on December 21 and 7.05am the next morning.

By the time she discovered the loss on the afternoon of December 23, Andrew Rodney Cunningham had used the card to buy tobacco, alcohol, fast food and petrol (see the full list below).

Documents tendered to Wollongong court did not reveal how Cunningham came to have the card, but said his first fraudulent purchase occurred at 7.05am on December 22 when he bought $25 worth of tobacco from the Crown Street Mall 7-Eleven.

The last transaction police were able to prove was $14 spent on two pairs of sunglasses at Crown Street's L & R Great Value at 11.49am on December 23.