The House of Delegates yesterday tentatively endorsed restrictions on payday lenders that the high-cost instant-loan industry is attacking in new television ads as unfair to borrowers. The clampdown would limit loans to five per year and one at a time — a feature proponents say would prevent Virginians from becoming ensnared in debts that balloon to thousands of dollars and can take years to pay. Lenders, to whom the state opened in 2002, say that the limits could cost the jobs of some of the 2,400 people who work in an estimated 800 money stores. The House measure, largely fashioned by Republicans once friendly to lenders and the Democratic Legislative Black Caucus, also restructures pricey fees on the loans. But the legislation generally preserves what lenders — spending millions of dollars on lobbying, campaign contributions and advertising — pocket for each cash advance, which is limited to $500. State studies have shown some Virginians drawing 13 loans per year, suggesting — opponents of payday lending say — that many are becoming mired in debt, using one cash advance to pay off another. read more