President Obama came perilously close to having to wash some dishes on his recent trip to New York.

Mr. Obama revealed Friday that his credit card was rejected when he went to pay for his meal at a New York restaurant during the U.N. General Assembly gathering last month.

“Turns out I guess I don’t use it enough,” so the payment wouldn’t go through, Mr. Obama explained.

“Apparently they thought there was some fraud going on,” Mr. Obama joked at a meeting Friday with employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Board, adding that “even I am affected” by the difficulties of dealing with the American financial system. The remarks were picked up by the C-SPAN feed of the event.

Mr. Obama revealed his plastic problems while signing an executive order the White House says will make the federal payments system safer, making a plea for more banks and retailers to adopt enhanced security measure to protect consumers from fraud and identity theft.

It’s not the first time that Mr. Obama’s credit card has been caught up in the national debate over financial security. The president reportedly holds a JPMorgan credit card, and the New York banking giant was the victim of a massive hacker cyberattack that compromised an estimated 76 million cardholder accounts.

JPMorgan officials declined to say whether the president’s credit card was affected.

Mr. Obama told CFPB employees he was bailed out and able to settle his restaurant tab with another credit card.

“Fortunately, Michelle had hers,” Mr. Obama said.

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