New York warns that Ocwen may have misled "hundreds of thousands" of subprime borrowers

The nation's largest servicer of subprime mortgages has engaged in abuses that could potentially harm "hundreds of thousands of borrowers," according to the New York Superintendent of Financial Services.

The state regulator issued a letter Tuesday to Ocwen Financial Corp., documenting the same kinds of suspicious actions that worsened the housing crisis and the Great Recession.

Ocwen inappropriately backdated foreclosure warnings and letters that denied mortgage loan modifications, making it nearly impossible for borrowers to appeal the company's decision, according to the letter from Benjamin Lawsky, New York's Superintendent of Financial Services.

The letter refrains from saying whether the backdating was intentional or the result of poor oversight by Ocwen. The company managed $106 billion worth of subprime mortgages at the start of 2014, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.