the whole levelling system changes after you finish the storyline (don't ask me why!!).

if you have 80K in the bank and it says you need 72K to level, it basically means you need 72K MORE to level, rather than a total of 72K in the bank. Does that make sense?

So if you now took a 2K mission, it would say 70K to level and so on.....

Hope that helps!

While I was waiting on a reply to my post I looked to where I could maybe do some mining and get some cash fast...well I went to Omega 11 and while i was there I checked the area out for wrecked ships..the place is littered with em.. I found some good weapons Golden Blades...well while I looted the wrecked ships my lvl went straight from 18 to 20 then on the next ship I looted it went to 23..woot woot that was nice but still need to get higher if I'm gonna fly that titan.

You level up based on your worth (money, ship cost, weapon cost, etc.). So you may only have a few credits in the bank but you will be able to level by finding a good weapon.