diff --git a/aws/resource_aws_cognito_user_pool.go b/aws/resource_aws_cognito_user_pool.go
index b3ca53800631..7d95fbba01ce 100644
--- a/aws/resource_aws_cognito_user_pool.go
+++ b/aws/resource_aws_cognito_user_pool.go
@@ -639,9 +639,8 @@ func resourceAwsCognitoUserPoolRead(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) er
 		Resource:  fmt.Sprintf("userpool/%s", d.Id()),
 	}
 	d.Set("arn", arn.String())
-	if resp.UserPool.AutoVerifiedAttributes != nil {
-		d.Set("auto_verified_attributes", flattenStringList(resp.UserPool.AutoVerifiedAttributes))
-	}
+	d.Set("auto_verified_attributes", flattenStringList(resp.UserPool.AutoVerifiedAttributes))
+
 	if resp.UserPool.EmailVerificationSubject != nil {
 		d.Set("email_verification_subject", *resp.UserPool.EmailVerificationSubject)
 	}
diff --git a/aws/resource_aws_cognito_user_pool_test.go b/aws/resource_aws_cognito_user_pool_test.go
index 825bbac6fb02..81f1f880d412 100644
--- a/aws/resource_aws_cognito_user_pool_test.go
+++ b/aws/resource_aws_cognito_user_pool_test.go
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ func TestAccAWSCognitoUserPool_withAliasAttributes(t *testing.T) {
 					testAccCheckAWSCognitoUserPoolExists("aws_cognito_user_pool.pool"),
 					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr("aws_cognito_user_pool.pool", "alias_attributes.#", "1"),
 					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr("aws_cognito_user_pool.pool", "alias_attributes.1888159429", "preferred_username"),
-					resource.TestCheckNoResourceAttr("aws_cognito_user_pool.pool", "auto_verified_attributes.#"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr("aws_cognito_user_pool.pool", "auto_verified_attributes.#", "0"),
 				),
 			},
 			{