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 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.You can use gifted funds to make a down payment, but your mortgage lender will want to know some details before they allow you to use it. 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. Here's a sample gift letter you can use to prove that the money is truly meant as an outright gift, with no expectation of repayment. We'll cover how to easily write a gift letter (using our gift letter template), as well as the rules you need to know about gift funds. In most cases, documentation in the form of a gift letter will be required. A gift letter is proof to the lender that the funds were gifted to a homebuyer for their home purchase, and not a loan or borrowed money. While it's possible that no one claims on it, it's best to prepare for any legal issues in the future.