They were told in Albury Local Court that jail was a very real possibility given the extent of their offending, in particular that of Aimee Jessica Hill.

Magistrate Tony Murray said that before he passed sentence he needed to establish whether the money the pair rorted was more for “need or greed”.

With that he had a notepad and pen handed to Hill, 26, to ask her to write down to the best of her recollection just where the money defrauded from the ANZ Bank had gone.

That was after Hill gave him vague answers to repeated questions about where the money from her swindle went.

But Mr Murray first asked Hill – who previously pleaded guilty to charges of using false documentation to obtain a financial advantage and dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception – if she had repaid the $13,709 she took.

“I did ring them,” she said, “to see if I could go on any sort of payment plan” but the bank would only accept a half or full payment, which she could not afford.

Mr Murray said it was important she tell him what she did with the money “because you are looking at the possibility of a jail term”.

“I did pay off bills. I was in debt a little bit,” she said.

When Mr Murray pressed again, Hill said the cash went to “bills like electricity, (the) phone”.

Hill’s husband, John Andrew Cugley, previously pleaded guilty to the deception count.

Hill used a false name to get a credit card with a $26,000 limit, at which point she transferred $10,000 from her new ANZ card to another ANZ account in Cugley’s name.

Police said the credit card was fraudulently used to obtain a further $3709.

Hill was convicted, placed on a two-year good behaviour bond, fined $1200 and ordered to pay $6854.50 in compensation.

Cugley was convicted and put on an 18-month bond, fined $600 and ordered to pay the same amount of compensation.