100%!! I just created a new ALT for fun, and even bought the hyperdrive bundle.... but Credits are INSANELY hard to get relative to the demand..... every day I'm crunching for every one I can get. Mods alone eat up so much.... 250k to lvl 15 them. I already have about 50 characters I need to mod.... so 50 toons x 6 mods x250k per mod is already 75,000,000 credits.... of course, 70% of upgraded mods are crap and will be sold at a fraction of the upgrade cost, so the real mod credit crunch early game is much much higher. Not to mention leveling as you said, plus gearing.... I know credits are nearly free later. My main is 8.4 million GP and I don't hurt for credits at all.... but early game it is THE bottle neck that stops me from spending more time in the game.
