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. A short letter like this sample gift letter will cover all of the requirements your lender needs.A gift letter is an important, formal, legal piece of documentation that can help explain that a (usually rather large) sum of money was gifted to you. Yes, this is normal. We bought our first house just before we got married. The purpose of this letter is to document that the money does not need to be repaid as well as the donor's name, contract information, and relationship to you. If you use gifted funds toward your home purchase, your mortgage lender will need a gift letter to explain that the money is not a loan. What should you include in a gift letter? Your bank needs a written letter to prove that any money gifted to you to help buy a house is in fact a gift, not a loan. Technically the lender needs to see a 90day history of bank account activity.