Gifting money from overseas - certification from lender

[moscatojuices]

Hello,

I decided to buy a condo in Canada - part of the down payment is from my accumulated Canadian earnings, and part of it is a cash gift from my mother overseas (which was transferred in June).

Everything was smooth sailing in the mortgage application process until the lender asked me and my mother to complete a Down Payment Gift Letter.

In this Letter, the bank ask us to certify that, in relation to the cash gift:

• Funds are genuinely gifted and will not have to be repaid at any time (which is true)
• The funds have not originated from outside of Canada (what the f*ck!?)

The cash gift DID originate from outside Canada, but my broker insists everything is fine and the lender is aware of the origins of the gift (without telling me this in writing).

Obviously I don't want to be caught out for mortgage fraud and deported or something like that. What should I do?

I don't want to lose this very nice condo I found and potentially my holding deposit too. At the same time, I don't want to sign this form with the above stated clause.

 

[cansha]

Hello,

I decided to buy a condo in Canada - part of the down payment is from my accumulated Canadian earnings, and part of it is a cash gift from my mother overseas (which was transferred in June).

Everything was smooth sailing in the mortgage application process until the lender asked me and my mother to complete a Down Payment Gift Letter.

In this Letter, the bank ask us to certify that, in relation to the cash gift:

• Funds are genuinely gifted and will not have to be repaid at any time (which is true)
• The funds have not originated from outside of Canada (what the f*ck!?)

The cash gift DID originate from outside Canada, but my broker insists everything is fine and the lender is aware of the origins of the gift (without telling me this in writing).

Obviously I don't want to be caught out for mortgage fraud and deported or something like that. What should I do?

I don't want to lose this very nice condo I found and potentially my holding deposit too. At the same time, I don't want to sign this form with the above stated clause.

You need a better mortgage agent. On this link https://moneywise.ca/mortgages/homebuying/mortgage-gift-letter I don't see any requirement to state that funds originated in Canada. Obviously, we can't consider this link as the ultimate truth but it does make me believe that the line may be a requirement of specific bank and your mortgage agent is not really working to get that line removed from the letter. Also, as per the link you can choose your own letter format as long as you have certain details in it.

You could have avoided all this if funds were in your accounts for more than 3 months as banks generally just ask 3 month bank statement.

But I agree you should not be signing that document stating funds are coming from Canada. That would be fraud.