diff --git a/pkg/ctl/create/utils.go b/pkg/ctl/create/utils.go
index 6d4e459aecd..15def9d55bc 100644
--- a/pkg/ctl/create/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/ctl/create/utils.go
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ func loadSSHKey(ng *api.NodeGroup, clusterName string, provider api.ClusterProvi
 		logger.Info("using EC2 key pair %q", *sshConfig.PublicKeyName)
 
 	// Local ssh key file
-	case utils.CheckFileExists(*sshConfig.PublicKeyPath) != nil:
+	case utils.CheckFileExists(*sshConfig.PublicKeyPath):
 		keyName, err := ssh.LoadKeyFromFile(*sshConfig.PublicKeyPath, clusterName, ng.Name, provider)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
diff --git a/pkg/ssh/ssh.go b/pkg/ssh/ssh.go
index b2bec396152..1822499ac8f 100644
--- a/pkg/ssh/ssh.go
+++ b/pkg/ssh/ssh.go
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ import (
 // LoadKeyFromFile loads and imports a public SSH key from a file provided a path to that file.
 // returns the name of the key
 func LoadKeyFromFile(filePath, clusterName, ngName string, provider api.ClusterProvider) (string, error) {
-	if err := utils.CheckFileExists(filePath); err != nil {
-		return "", errors.Wrap(err, fmt.Sprintf("SSH public key file %q not found", filePath))
+	if !utils.CheckFileExists(filePath) {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("SSH public key file %q not found", filePath)
 	}
 
 	expandedPath := utils.ExpandPath(filePath)
diff --git a/pkg/utils/file.go b/pkg/utils/file.go
index 57e2995ff15..fbd221bd13c 100644
--- a/pkg/utils/file.go
+++ b/pkg/utils/file.go
@@ -20,12 +20,12 @@ func FileExists(path string) (bool, error) {
 }
 
 // CheckFileExists returns an error if the file doesn't exist
-func CheckFileExists(filePath string) error {
+func CheckFileExists(filePath string) bool {
 	extendedPath := ExpandPath(filePath)
 	if _, err := os.Stat(extendedPath); os.IsNotExist(err) {
-		return err
+		return false
 	}
-	return nil
+	return true
 }
 
 // ExpandPath expands path with ~ notation