When someone offers to help you make a down payment on a house, your lender will require a gift letter for a mortgage. Here's what it includes.A down payment can be hard to come by. One option is to be gifted the money, but this has certain requirements, such as 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. Most conventional mortgage loans allow homebuyers to use gift money for their down payment and closing costs as long as it's a gift from an acceptable source. The contract between the Charlotte Fire Department and MEDIC ends on Jan. 9 and there is no deal to extend it.