diff --git a/src/bin/cli.ts b/src/bin/cli.ts
index 1ec150f1..f63e3c6f 100755
--- a/src/bin/cli.ts
+++ b/src/bin/cli.ts
@@ -157,7 +157,13 @@ ${chalk.dim.underline(
   // Do not load when tests are running (can be overridden if configFilePath is set explicitly, or --mergeConfig option specified)
   const rcResult =
     !process.env.NCU_TESTS || configFilePath || mergeConfig
-      ? await getNcuRc({ configFileName, configFilePath, global, packageFile, color })
+      ? await getNcuRc({
+          configFileName,
+          configFilePath,
+          global,
+          packageFile,
+          options: { ...programOpts, cli: true },
+        })
       : null
 
   // override rc args with program args
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index f31bdfc6..ce45a0fe 100755
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ async function runUpgrades(options: Options, timeout?: NodeJS.Timeout): Promise<
       async (previousPromise, packageInfo: PackageInfo) => {
         const packages = await previousPromise
         // copy object to prevent share .ncurc options between different packageFile, to prevent unpredictable behavior
-        const rcResult = await getNcuRc({ packageFile: packageInfo.filepath, color: options.color })
+        const rcResult = await getNcuRc({ packageFile: packageInfo.filepath, options })
         let rcConfig = rcResult && rcResult.config ? rcResult.config : {}
         if (options.mergeConfig && Object.keys(rcConfig).length) {
           // Merge config options.
diff --git a/src/lib/getNcuRc.ts b/src/lib/getNcuRc.ts
index 38dd0535..205be93b 100644
--- a/src/lib/getNcuRc.ts
+++ b/src/lib/getNcuRc.ts
@@ -5,28 +5,26 @@ import os from 'os'
 import path from 'path'
 import { rcFile } from 'rc-config-loader'
 import { cliOptionsMap } from '../cli-options'
+import { Options } from '../types/Options'
+import programError from './programError'
 
-interface Options {
-  color?: boolean
+/** Loads the .ncurc config file. */
+async function getNcuRc({
+  configFileName,
+  configFilePath,
+  packageFile,
+  global,
+  options,
+}: {
   configFileName?: string
   configFilePath?: string
-  // if true, does not look in package directory
+  /** If true, does not look in package directory. */
   global?: boolean
   packageFile?: string
-}
-
-/**
- * Loads the .ncurc config file.
- *
- * @param [cfg]
- * @param [cfg.configFileName=.ncurc]
- * @param [cfg.configFilePath]
- * @param [cfg.packageFile]
- * @returns
- */
-async function getNcuRc({ color, configFileName, configFilePath, packageFile, global }: Options = {}) {
+  options: Options
+}) {
   const { default: chalkDefault, Chalk } = await import('chalk')
-  const chalk = color ? new Chalk({ level: 1 }) : chalkDefault
+  const chalk = options?.color ? new Chalk({ level: 1 }) : chalkDefault
 
   const rawResult = rcFile('ncurc', {
     configFileName: configFileName || '.ncurc',
@@ -34,6 +32,10 @@ async function getNcuRc({ color, configFileName, configFilePath, packageFile, gl
     cwd: configFilePath || (global ? os.homedir() : packageFile ? path.dirname(packageFile) : undefined),
   })
 
+  if (configFileName && !rawResult?.filePath) {
+    programError(options, `Config file ${configFileName} not found in ${configFilePath || process.cwd()}`)
+  }
+
   const result = {
     filePath: rawResult?.filePath,
     // Prevent the cli tool from choking because of an unknown option "$schema"
diff --git a/test/rc-config.test.ts b/test/rc-config.test.ts
index 46a39204..50ae1fcd 100644
--- a/test/rc-config.test.ts
+++ b/test/rc-config.test.ts
@@ -61,6 +61,21 @@ describe('rc-config', () => {
     }
   })
 
+  it('error on missing --configFileName', async () => {
+    const tempDir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'npm-check-updates-'))
+    const configFileName = '.ncurc_missing.json'
+    try {
+      const result = spawn(
+        'node',
+        [bin, '--stdin', '--configFilePath', tempDir, '--configFileName', configFileName],
+        JSON.stringify({ dependencies: { 'ncu-test-v2': '1', 'ncu-test-tag': '0.1.0' } }),
+      )
+      await result.should.eventually.be.rejectedWith(`Config file ${configFileName} not found in ${tempDir}`)
+    } finally {
+      await fs.rm(tempDir, { recursive: true, force: true })
+    }
+  })
+
   it('read --configFilePath', async () => {
     const tempDir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'npm-check-updates-'))
     const tempConfigFile = path.join(tempDir, '.ncurc.json')