When HousingWire reported Thursday that Chad Smith was out as president of direct lending at loanDepot, it was unknown why Smith left or where he was going next.

We now have the answer.

Smith was hired away by Caliber Home Loans, where he will serve as executive vice president, head of recapture and direct to consumer.

Caliber announced Smith’s hiring Friday morning.

By moving from loanDepot to Caliber, Smith shifts from one large lender to another, albeit one with a different focus to this point.

loanDepot’s consumer direct channel is massive, while Caliber focuses mainly on retail, wholesale, and correspondent lending, with some business coming from recapture of its servicing customers.

According to Caliber, it is the nation’s fourth largest nonbank residential mortgage originator with approximately $44 billion in originations in 2017 and a servicing portfolio of more than $130 billion.

Now, Smith will be tasked with leading Caliber’s recapture and direct to consumer efforts, including “transforming the way Caliber interacts with its customers while leveraging the Caliber servicing portfolio,” which has more than 650,000 customers.

“We are excited to welcome Chad to the team and believe his extensive industry experience and passion for serving customers make him uniquely suited for this new role,” Caliber CEO Sanjiv Das said. “We look forward to his contributions to Caliber, which will accelerate the growth of our franchise and our position as a top mortgage originator in the United States.”

A source familiar with Caliber’s operations told HousingWire that the company views consumer direct as a big opportunity for growth for the lender.

“We look forward to Chad's insights and perspective as we continue to build a world-class team and provide timely solutions to our expansive customer base, which is among the largest of any non-bank financial institution,” Russ Smith, Caliber’s executive president of production said.