diff --git a/src/BaseSpacePy/api/BaseSpaceAPI.py b/src/BaseSpacePy/api/BaseSpaceAPI.py
index c6bd62a..16f315d 100755
--- a/src/BaseSpacePy/api/BaseSpaceAPI.py
+++ b/src/BaseSpacePy/api/BaseSpaceAPI.py
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ def _getLocalCredentials(self, profile):
         '''
         config_file = os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~/.basespace'), "%s.cfg" % profile)
         if not os.path.exists(config_file):
-            raise CredentialsException("Could not find config file: %s" % config_file)
+            return {}
         section_name = "DEFAULT"
         cred = {}
         config = configparser.SafeConfigParser()