Even the big names sometimes run into financial hurdles.
President Barack Obama said on Friday that his credit card was rejected at the classy Estela restaurant in Manhattan's NoHo.
"It turned out I don't use it enough so they thought there was some fraud going on," Obama said. "Fortunately Michelle had hers."
Estela declined to comment on the event and the White House did not immediately return requests for comment.
The comments followed the signature of an executive order on Friday to enhance federal security by adding microchips and PIN numbers to government credit cards and debit cards starting in January.
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The president before a lively, packed crowd of regulators at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
In another high-profile financial block, former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said two weeks ago that he has had difficulty refinancing his mortgage.
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CNBC's Eamon Javers and Reuters contributed to this report.