Iraqi Dinar - Feeling Foolish...

Munchkin2104

Hello - apologies if this isn't the right section but I finally want to put this one to bed if possible. Like many people, I'm sure, my parents and I foolishly got caught up with the revaluation rumours. Luckily we didn't invest as much as we were being encouraged too however it is a fair amount. After a lot of research and understandably very cautious about what to believe / not believe, can anyone help? Shall I just throw the currency away and forget about it, or are there any reliable sources where I could get a few £'s back. It was originally bought via a building society. Any help would be appreciated!

bowlhead99

Did you pay the building society for investment advice and them assess your circumstances and recommend you bought since Iraqi currency? I suspect not, as they are not currency investment advisors. So you do not have a complaint about their behavior and there is no reason that they would want to buy back your foreign currency at anything more than its current value.

The current fair value of your paper, as with anything else that has at some point been exchanged on a financial market, is whatever someone will pay. Good luck.

As a side note, you say you expect your situation is like many people, you're sure, you were caught up in some rumours and encouraged by someone to invest, even though you didn't invest as much as you were encouraged to?

I work in financial services and was not aware until you just told us, that there were revaluation rumours and widespread encouragement for the man on the street to invest in the Dinar. I don't suppose you'll find that it was something that an average person was remotely tempted to do.

Of course, there are always rumours of all sorts and get rich quick schemes. If you've been advised by someone who is regulated by the financial conduct authority to sell you investing advice and it was inadequate, you will have a case for a complaint. As you haven't, and just acted on your own initiative, the people who you and your parents should complain to, are you and your parents.

Biggles

I remember there were various suggestions, following the Bush-Blair invasion, that the Dinar was as low as it could get and should be bought. I think there were even threads on here written by, and for, rash speculators.

But it depends what you bought them at, what they are worth now and whether you need the money that's sunk into them.

I'm afraid that, just like 2004 (or whenever it was), nobody can tell you whether they will ever be worth more than they are now.

Aretnap

Apparently it was a biggish investment scam in the US last year#

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/2015/06/19/dinar-revaluation-schemes-probed-by-fbi/#2715e4857a0b4fdb7f0d605e

Slightly puzzled by the reference to a building society - do you mean you bought paper dinars from a building society, acting essentially as a bureau de change? If so will the building society buy them back? Presumably it will be at a lower price than you paid for them - but better than throwing them in the bin. Otherwise I can't imagine that there is a huge demand for them in the UK - Iraq is not exactly a major holiday destination right now.

princeofpounds

If you have bought proper Iraqi Dinar, they have basically barely devalued, so you should just exchange them back. You should really only lose your exchange costs. Or go spend them in Baghdad.


I don't know the specific situation around the Dinar but although it's largely a managed currency (probably supported by international aid) the country is an oil producer and fundamentally similar countries have faced large depreciation risk recently. I'm not going to go into the specifics of currency theory but in short I'd only purchase them if you intend to use them.


The 'whole Iraqi Dinar will revalue' meme is, of course, a scam. The real risk is that you give your money to the wrong person to invest for you, or buy currency at an unfair rate, or buy something that isn't even real currency.

Sam_J12

I don't understand the OP, as he must surely have made a profit since according to - http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=IQD&to=GBP&view=10Y - the Iraqi Dinar buys more GBP than at any time in the last ten years. Today around 1600 Dinar will buy you £1 while ten years ago around 2700 Dinar would buy you one pound.

I couldn't find information for more than 10 years ago...

Edit: I just checked. The currency is at its strongest vs the GBP since February 1997. It seemed to collapse in that month and lost 90% of its value.