The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have sent a list of recommendations to banks in the UK geared towards helping customers with debt problems.
Amongst the new measures is a minimum 14 days notification period that has to be given before all charges and interest are taken from customers' accounts.
The chief executive of the OFT commented that banks needed to be more clear and straightforward with consumers and added: "Significant change is needed to the banking codes of practice, particularly to address the lack of transparency that pervades the retail banking sector."