The letter must explain who is gifting the money, where the donor's funds are coming from and the relationship between the donor and the recipient. It states how much you're getting and from whom.How much money do you need to receive before a gift letter is necessary? A gift letter is a note from a donor to your lender regarding cash funds for your mortgage down payment. This guide explains how to document gift funds for a mortgage and meet lender requirements. All gifts must be paper-trailed and digitally documented with cancelled checks and bank statements. A gift letter is a piece of legal, written correspondence explicitly stating that money received isn't expected to be repaid. The bank requested a letter from my parents stating this was a gift when they saw the deposit. It was an amount below the annual gift tax limit.