I want to send a friend a one-time gift equal to 25% of my yearly income. Is there any way to do this without drawing attention from the loan officer? It’s not a debt or a recurring payment, but I assume they’ll still be concerned.
For some context, I plan to buy a house within the next 6 months, but I don’t urgently need to move yet.
If this happens within 6 months, they will likely ask questions and need to check if it’s part of any obligations you have, but it doesn’t seem to be.
I’d recommend waiting until after the home purchase to make this gift. You never know what unexpected costs might come up during the process, like reserves, appraisal gaps, or issues with the house. It can be a lot more than just the down payment.
Agreed. A one-time gift won’t matter as long as you have the necessary funds for closing. And if it’s not in the two bank statements (from the account you use for cash to close) before closing, they won’t know about it anyway.
I don’t know the answer, but can I be your friend? 
It really depends on your finances.
They’ll ask either way, but if you make $100K and gift $25K while still having $100K in liquid assets and another $100K in other investments, it shouldn’t be a problem. But if you make $100K and give $25K, leaving you with only $25K, that could hurt your loan.
I had a similar issue when buying my first home, my inheritance came from my father, and it was a large chunk of my cash balance. They asked a lot of questions, but for my second home, things were much better financially, and they didn’t ask anything after reviewing my bank and brokerage accounts.
No, just no.
You might need a letter confirming that this is a gift and not a loan, which could add extra conditions to the loan approval process.
Also, wow, your friends must be very lucky to have someone as generous as you! 
For the home search, this wouldn’t be an issue, but it could be a problem during the underwriting process.
Sky said:
For the home search, this wouldn’t be an issue, but it could be a problem during the underwriting process.
Would it show up during the initial approval process, or could it be a last-minute surprise just before closing? There’s nothing risky with my cash flows, but I don’t want to get stuck in the process only for an uninformed loan officer to get worried last minute.
@Reese
It won’t come up during the approval process.
It shouldn’t be a problem. If you’re not buying for 6 months, how would they even know? And if they do find out, just explain the situation.
I’ve applied for many mortgages, and all you really need to prove is that you can afford the mortgage and have enough for closing costs. That’s it. As long as you meet those criteria, it shouldn’t matter.
Normally, they ask for 2 months of bank statements, so a transaction from 6 months ago won’t even be seen. But if you’re really worried, you could use a different account than the one you plan to use for closing costs, and just not mention the account you used for the gift. You only need to disclose the account used for closing costs, nothing else.