Will lenders accept a gifted deposit from my parents?
Yes — most lenders accept a gifted deposit, but their conditions differ. Some are comfortable with a fully gifted deposit if your income is stable; others require a portion of genuine savings on top, and nearly all want a signed gift letter confirming the money is a non-repayable gift, not a loan. Prepared correctly up front, a gift rarely causes a problem; prepared badly, it stalls at assessment.
The trap most brokers miss
The trap is treating the gift as an afterthought. If a lender suspects the “gift” is actually a loan your parents expect back, it changes your liabilities and can sink the application. Getting the gift letter and evidence right before submission avoids a last-minute decline.
What you actually need
- A signed gift letter stating the funds are a non-repayable gift
- Evidence of the funds in your account (or ready to transfer)
- Your own income and expense documents as normal
- A lender matched to your genuine-savings position if the deposit is fully gifted
Illustrative scenarios
Teaching examples built from typical situations to show how we approach the problem. Numbers only, never names.
Gifted deposit from parents
A first home buyer received a $90,000 gift from parents toward a $650,000 purchase.
Lenders treat gifted funds differently — some require a portion of genuine savings on top, some need a statutory declaration that the gift is non-repayable.
We identified a lender comfortable with a fully gifted deposit given stable income, and prepared the gift letter and evidence up front so it did not stall at assessment.
Finance was approved using the gifted deposit with the documentation accepted first time — an illustrative example of preparing the file to the lender’s policy.
Illustrative example only. This is a teaching scenario built from typical borrower situations to show how we approach the problem — not a record of a specific client, and not a prediction of your result. Your outcome depends on your lender, your financials and current lending policy.
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