private static int applyLetterScore(String passwd)
	{
		int letterScore = 0;
		
		// LETTERS 
		Matcher mL = Pattern.compile(".??[a-z]").matcher(passwd);
		
		if ( mL.find() ) // [verified] at least one lower case letter
		{
			letterScore = 1;
			log.debug("1 point for a lower case character\n");
		}
		
		Matcher mU = Pattern.compile(".??[A-Z]").matcher(passwd);
		
		if ( mU.find() ) // [verified] at least one upper case letter
		{
			letterScore += 5;
			log.debug("5 point for an upper case character");
		}
		return letterScore;
	}