diff --git a/src/lib/git.test.ts b/src/lib/git.test.ts
index 15df6ffb..7ae7998b 100644
--- a/src/lib/git.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/git.test.ts
@@ -313,7 +313,30 @@ describe('createBackportBranch', () => {
         backportBranch,
       }),
     ).rejects.toThrowErrorMatchingInlineSnapshot(
-      `"The branch "4.x" is invalid or doesn't exist"`,
+      `"The remote "'https://github.com/elastic/kibana.git'" is invalid or doesn't exist"`,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('should throw "is not a commit" error', async () => {
+    expect.assertions(1);
+    const err = new childProcess.SpawnError({
+      code: 128,
+      cmdArgs: [],
+      stdout: '',
+      stderr:
+        "fatal: 'origin/remote-branch-name' is not a commit and a branch 'local-branch-name' cannot be created from it",
+    });
+
+    jest.spyOn(childProcess, 'spawnPromise').mockRejectedValueOnce(err);
+    await expect(
+      createBackportBranch({
+        options,
+        sourceBranch,
+        targetBranch,
+        backportBranch,
+      }),
+    ).rejects.toThrowErrorMatchingInlineSnapshot(
+      `"The branch "origin/remote-branch-name'" is invalid or doesn't exist"`,
     );
   });
 
diff --git a/src/lib/git.ts b/src/lib/git.ts
index d2268842..1cce84f9 100644
--- a/src/lib/git.ts
+++ b/src/lib/git.ts
@@ -504,9 +504,9 @@ export async function createBackportBranch({
 }) {
   const spinner = ora(options.interactive, 'Pulling latest changes').start();
 
-  try {
-    const cwd = getRepoPath(options);
+  const cwd = getRepoPath(options);
 
+  try {
     await spawnPromise('git', ['reset', '--hard'], cwd);
     await spawnPromise('git', ['clean', '-d', '--force'], cwd);
 
@@ -534,35 +534,48 @@ export async function createBackportBranch({
     try {
       await spawnPromise('git', ['branch', '-D', tmpBranchName], cwd);
     } catch (e) {
-      //
+      // swallow error
     }
 
     // fetch commits for source branch
     await fetchBranch(options, sourceBranch);
-
-    spinner.succeed();
   } catch (e) {
     spinner.fail();
 
     if (e instanceof SpawnError) {
-      const isBranchInvalid =
-        e.context.stderr.toLowerCase().includes(`couldn't find remote ref`) ||
-        e.context.stderr.toLowerCase().includes(`invalid refspec`) ||
-        e.context.stderr
-          .toLowerCase()
-          .includes(
-            `is not a commit and a branch '${backportBranch}' cannot be created from it`,
-          );
-
-      if (isBranchInvalid) {
+      const invalidRemoteRef = e.context.stderr
+        .toLowerCase()
+        .match(/couldn't find remote ref (.*)/)?.[1];
+
+      const invalidCommit = e.context.stderr
+        .toLowerCase()
+        .match(
+          /'(.+) is not a commit and a branch .+ cannot be created from it/,
+        )?.[1];
+
+      const invalidBranch = invalidRemoteRef || invalidCommit;
+
+      if (invalidBranch) {
         throw new BackportError(
-          `The branch "${targetBranch}" is invalid or doesn't exist`,
+          `The branch "${invalidBranch}" is invalid or doesn't exist`,
+        );
+      }
+
+      const invalidRefSpec = e.context.stderr
+        .toLowerCase()
+        .match(/invalid refspec (.*)/)?.[1];
+
+      if (invalidRefSpec) {
+        throw new BackportError(
+          `The remote "${invalidRefSpec}" is invalid or doesn't exist`,
         );
       }
     }
 
     throw e;
   }
+
+  spinner.succeed();
 }
 
 export async function deleteBackportBranch({
diff --git a/src/lib/github/v4/getOptionsFromGithub/getOptionsFromGithub.ts b/src/lib/github/v4/getOptionsFromGithub/getOptionsFromGithub.ts
index 8b2be735..a26dc30c 100644
--- a/src/lib/github/v4/getOptionsFromGithub/getOptionsFromGithub.ts
+++ b/src/lib/github/v4/getOptionsFromGithub/getOptionsFromGithub.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import {
 } from '../../../git';
 import { logger } from '../../../logger';
 import {
-  parseRemoteConfig,
+  parseRemoteConfigFile,
   swallowMissingConfigFileException,
 } from '../../../remoteConfig';
 import {
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ async function getRemoteConfigFileOptions(
   }
 
   logger.info('Remote config: Parsing.');
-  return parseRemoteConfig(remoteConfig);
+  return parseRemoteConfigFile(remoteConfig);
 }
 
 function throwIfInsufficientPermissions(
diff --git a/src/lib/remoteConfig.ts b/src/lib/remoteConfig.ts
index a6aa0635..2defba82 100644
--- a/src/lib/remoteConfig.ts
+++ b/src/lib/remoteConfig.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import gql from 'graphql-tag';
-import { ConfigFileOptions } from '../entrypoint.api';
-import { withConfigMigrations } from '../options/config/readConfigFile';
+import { parseConfigFile } from '../options/config/readConfigFile';
 import { GithubV4Exception } from './github/v4/apiRequestV4';
 import { logger } from './logger';
 
@@ -40,11 +39,9 @@ export interface RemoteConfigHistory {
   };
 }
 
-export function parseRemoteConfig(remoteConfig: RemoteConfig) {
+export function parseRemoteConfigFile(remoteConfig: RemoteConfig) {
   try {
-    return withConfigMigrations(
-      JSON.parse(remoteConfig.file.object.text),
-    ) as ConfigFileOptions;
+    return parseConfigFile(remoteConfig.file.object.text);
   } catch (e) {
     logger.info('Parsing remote config failed', e);
     return;
diff --git a/src/lib/sourceCommit/parseSourceCommit.ts b/src/lib/sourceCommit/parseSourceCommit.ts
index 84436551..cdd6de4b 100644
--- a/src/lib/sourceCommit/parseSourceCommit.ts
+++ b/src/lib/sourceCommit/parseSourceCommit.ts
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@ import gql from 'graphql-tag';
 import { differenceBy } from 'lodash';
 import { ValidConfigOptions } from '../../options/options';
 import {
-  parseRemoteConfig,
   RemoteConfigHistory,
   RemoteConfigHistoryFragment,
+  parseRemoteConfigFile,
 } from '../remoteConfig';
 import {
   TargetPullRequest,
@@ -281,6 +281,6 @@ function getSourceCommitBranchLabelMapping(
     sourcePullRequest?.mergeCommit.remoteConfigHistory.edges?.[0]?.remoteConfig;
 
   if (remoteConfig) {
-    return parseRemoteConfig(remoteConfig)?.branchLabelMapping;
+    return parseRemoteConfigFile(remoteConfig)?.branchLabelMapping;
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/options/config/readConfigFile.ts b/src/options/config/readConfigFile.ts
index ff032d3b..3d638158 100644
--- a/src/options/config/readConfigFile.ts
+++ b/src/options/config/readConfigFile.ts
@@ -8,10 +8,9 @@ export async function readConfigFile(
   filepath: string,
 ): Promise<ConfigFileOptions> {
   const fileContents = await readFile(filepath, 'utf8');
-  const configWithoutComments = stripJsonComments(fileContents);
 
   try {
-    return withConfigMigrations(JSON.parse(configWithoutComments));
+    return parseConfigFile(fileContents);
   } catch (e) {
     throw new BackportError(
       `"${filepath}" contains invalid JSON:\n\n${fileContents}`,
@@ -19,13 +18,11 @@ export async function readConfigFile(
   }
 }
 // ensure backwards compatability when config options are renamed
-export function withConfigMigrations({
-  upstream,
-  labels,
-  branches,
-  addOriginalReviewers,
-  ...config
-}: ConfigFileOptions) {
+export function parseConfigFile(fileContents: string): ConfigFileOptions {
+  const configWithoutComments = stripJsonComments(fileContents);
+  const { upstream, labels, branches, addOriginalReviewers, ...config } =
+    JSON.parse(configWithoutComments);
+
   const { repoName, repoOwner } = parseUpstream(upstream, config);
 
   return excludeUndefined({