Jim Sollisch writes an op-ed piece for the Washington Post about some of the worst (he calls them "ruthless") practices of credit card issuers - the practices that lead him to call them "credit card sharks".

Are you a payments professional living in the San Francisco Bay Area? The next meeting of BayPay, the payments professionals' networking group for the San Francisco area is being held next Monday, February 6, at 6 PM in San Jose. The topic for this meeting is "Solutions for the Unbanked".

If you're not already a BayPay member and are interested in attending Monday's meeting, please contact us to request more information and an invitation to join the group.

Last week's Top 11 Most Popular News Stories on Payments News were:

• TextPayMe Update
  
• MasterCard, Citi Consumer Trial of Contactless Payments
  
• TextPayMe - The Real Story
  
• Visa's OATH-based Dynamic Pass Code Display Card
  
• Bank Investor Presentations
  
• January's Top 11: Most Read New Stories
  
• Visa To Split Up Overseas Divisions
  
• Western Union, A Cinderella Story
  
• CheckFree: A Payments Revolution 25 Years in The Making
  
• Nova Buys First Horizon Merchant Services Business
  
• India: Buy Local Train Ticket By SMS!
  

Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated.

• TechWeb: Grocery Chain Lets Shoppers Pay By Touch