Capital One Financial Corp. is now offering its credit customers more information about their credit scores within the bank’s mobile app. The functionality is provided by the credit bureau TransUnion.

Beginning later this month, Capital One credit card customers logging in to their accounts online or on mobile devices will see a new tab called Credit Tracker in their menu of options. Within this tab is the customer’s credit score, provided by TransUnion; a selection of alerting functionality to receive notification of credit events; a credit simulator to look at how one’s credit score could change based on a change in behavior and a selection of educational features to teach customers about credit.

The simulator is particularly interesting. Users enter goals, such as large purchases or paying down debt, and the app, both online and mobile, makes budgeting and payment projections. The app amounts to a personal financial management (PFM) tool for credit card holders.

All Capital One credit card customers that log in online or via mobile will have access to the new Credit Tracker functionality, said Sukhi Sahni, a senior communications director with Capital One. The tools will be available to all Capital One-branded cardholders at launch, and over time, will extend to all Capital One customers.

The functionality began testing in 2012 with Capital One Journey card customers. More extensive testing took place this winter. This card has a predominantly younger customer base — students and recent graduates — and Capital One was interested to see how those new to the credit experience would use the additional tools. An additional-alerts feature was added based on customer feedback during the testing period.

“Everybody has access to credit,” Sahni said. “Part of our strategy with these new tools is to make sure we’re doing what we can to help people learn how to use it.”

The company frames the new functionality as a free service, but Sahni told Bank Innovation that access to the tools also improved the credit performance of customers during the test period.

The information is not going to be added to paper statements, because of the digital nature of the functionality. The alerts are intended for Capital One’s 5 million mobile-first credit card customers, for example.

“We’re offering more digital tools,” Sahni said. “We’re trying to digitize everything.” This fits with what CEO Richard Fairbank said in December when he called Capital One a digital company.

“We’ve been interested to hear from customers what keeps them away from their credit scores,” Sahni said. “Part of it is fear — they don’t know what they’re looking at. Or they know they’re not going to like what they see.” Another major reason is that users fear looking at their score cost money or will harm the score. Capital One’s service, therefore, is free and using it does not affect the credit score.

A recent Capital One survey found that 41% of respondents do not know their current credit score, and that number is 63% among 18 to 24-year-olds.

Sahni pointed out that Capital One has never been involved in “tabling” — where tables are set up at college campuses and t-shirts and the like are offered as incentives to sign up for credit cards. Unfortunately, information on how to use credit wisely is not handed out along with the t-shirts, she said.

More information can only help Capital One’s customers, and in era of rising student debt, young people in particular can use all the help they can get.