cannot log-in to server

Greetings,

am new to this ftp thing and tried a couple of FTP progs and found SFTP to be the best, however, recently I couldn't log on to my FTP, I tried several times, I tried uninstall/reinstall, I tried asking the server what my FTP password is, I have disabled all known firewalls and tried to connect, I tried with a competitors product then upon ability to log on with the other product I copied and pasted user name and password.
I still want to use SFTP, because I find it more intuitive and have gotten used to it, else would have just settled for the working competitors product:
here is a log of an attempt:

SmartFTP v1.5.990.11
Resolving host name "myhostname"
Connecting to 209.59.171.2 Port: 21
Connected to myhostname
220---------- Welcome to Pure-FTPd [TLS] ----------
220-You are user number 1 of 50 allowed.
220-Local time is now 08:24. Server port: 21.
220 You will be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity.
USER chiandc
331 User chiandc OK. Password required
PASS (hidden)
530 Authentication failed, sorry
Active Help: https://www.smartftp.com/support/kb/51
QUIT
221-Goodbye. You uploaded 0 and downloaded 0 kbytes.
221 Logout.
Cannot login waiting to retry (30s)...
Server closed connection
Continue to login attempt 2...
Resolving host name "myhostname"
Connecting to 209.59.171.2 Port: 21
Connected to myhostname
220---------- Welcome to Pure-FTPd [TLS] ----------
220-You are user number 1 of 50 allowed.
220-Local time is now 08:25. Server port: 21.
220 You will be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity.
USER chiandc
331 User chiandc OK. Password required
PASS (hidden)
530 Authentication failed, sorry
Active Help: https://www.smartftp.com/support/kb/51
QUIT
221-Goodbye. You uploaded 0 and downloaded 0 kbytes.

another thing SFTP in this instance was set to repeat "0" times after "60s",
I was being blocked from my server because SFTP was attempting to log in several times in such little time. in a nutshell, again my two complaints:
1) I couldn't log in, am sure of my username and password
2) I couldn't set the number of attempts setting and time to do so., always acts as if in default.

Cheers, I hope you'd be able to resolve it, so I can get back to using this client

Chris