diff --git a/lib/util/customConfig.js b/lib/util/customConfig.js
index 1ab15994..bf7aadcf 100644
--- a/lib/util/customConfig.js
+++ b/lib/util/customConfig.js
@@ -36,9 +36,11 @@ function requireUncached(module) {
 /**
  * Load the config from a path string or parsed from an object
  * @param {string|Object} config
+ * @param {object} options
+ * @param {boolean} options.newConfig when the config has a different path we must resolve even if mtime is the same
  * @returns `null` when unchanged, `{}` when not found
  */
-function loadConfig(config) {
+function loadConfig(config, options) {
   let loadedConfig = null;
   if (typeof config === 'string') {
     const resolvedPath = path.isAbsolute(config) ? config : path.join(path.resolve(), config);
@@ -48,7 +50,7 @@ function loadConfig(config) {
       if (stats === null) {
         // Default to no config
         loadedConfig = {};
-      } else if (lastModifiedDate !== mtime) {
+      } else if (options.newConfig || lastModifiedDate !== mtime) {
         // Load the config based on path
         lastModifiedDate = mtime;
         loadedConfig = requireUncached(resolvedPath);
@@ -88,7 +90,7 @@ function resolve(twConfig) {
   if (newConfig || expired) {
     previousConfig = twConfig;
     lastCheck = now;
-    const userConfig = loadConfig(twConfig);
+    const userConfig = loadConfig(twConfig, { newConfig });
     // userConfig is null when config file was not modified
     if (userConfig !== null) {
       mergedConfig = resolveConfig(userConfig);