Low- to moderate-income borrowers who received homeownership counseling before purchasing a home are less likely to be delinquent in their mortgage loan payments than those who didn’t, according to a new Freddie Mac study. Analyzing 40,000 Freddie Mac Affordable Gold mortgages made between 1993 and 2000, researchers at the Virginia-based government-sponsored enterprise found a 34 percent decline in delinquency rates among borrowers who underwent individual home counseling.