diff --git a/assets/cla/consent.yaml b/assets/cla/consent.yaml
index cf3edf6..2fef2d0 100644
--- a/assets/cla/consent.yaml
+++ b/assets/cla/consent.yaml
@@ -43,4 +43,6 @@
   email: Michael94Ellis@gmail.com
 - name: Peter Oettig
   email: oss-cla@oettig.de
+- name: Phil Porada
+  email: philporada@gmail.com
 
diff --git a/internal/utils/file.go b/internal/utils/file.go
deleted file mode 100644
index e33d7a7..0000000
--- a/internal/utils/file.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2022 Paul Greenberg greenpau@outlook.com
-//
-// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-// You may obtain a copy of the License at
-//
-//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-//
-// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-// limitations under the License.
-
-package utils
-
-import (
-	"io/ioutil"
-	"os"
-	"path/filepath"
-)
-
-func expandHomePath(fp string) (string, error) {
-	if fp[0] != '~' {
-		return fp, nil
-	}
-	hd, err := os.UserHomeDir()
-	if err != nil {
-		return fp, err
-	}
-	fp = filepath.Join(hd, fp[1:])
-	return fp, nil
-}
-
-// ReadFileBytes expands home directory and reads a file.
-func ReadFileBytes(fp string) ([]byte, error) {
-	var err error
-	fp, err = expandHomePath(fp)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	return ioutil.ReadFile(fp)
-}
diff --git a/pkg/identity/database.go b/pkg/identity/database.go
index ced82da..c3efffe 100644
--- a/pkg/identity/database.go
+++ b/pkg/identity/database.go
@@ -17,17 +17,18 @@ package identity
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/greenpau/go-authcrunch/internal/utils"
-	"github.com/greenpau/go-authcrunch/pkg/errors"
-	"github.com/greenpau/go-authcrunch/pkg/requests"
-	"github.com/greenpau/go-authcrunch/pkg/util"
-	"github.com/greenpau/versioned"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
+
+	"github.com/greenpau/go-authcrunch/pkg/errors"
+	"github.com/greenpau/go-authcrunch/pkg/requests"
+	"github.com/greenpau/go-authcrunch/pkg/util"
+	fileutil "github.com/greenpau/go-authcrunch/pkg/util/file"
+	"github.com/greenpau/versioned"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -142,7 +143,7 @@ func NewDatabase(fp string) (*Database, error) {
 		if fileInfo.IsDir() {
 			return nil, errors.ErrNewDatabase.WithArgs(fp, "path points to a directory")
 		}
-		b, err := utils.ReadFileBytes(fp)
+		b, err := fileutil.ReadFileBytes(fp)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, errors.ErrNewDatabase.WithArgs(fp, err)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/util/file/utils.go b/pkg/util/file/utils.go
index 3c7229e..98fab21 100644
--- a/pkg/util/file/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/util/file/utils.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package file
 import (
 	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -80,6 +81,9 @@ func ReadFile(filePath string) (string, error) {
 }
 
 func expandHomePath(fp string) (string, error) {
+	if fp == "" {
+		return fp, fmt.Errorf("cannot expand an empty string")
+	}
 	if fp[0] != '~' {
 		return fp, nil
 	}
@@ -93,8 +97,10 @@ func expandHomePath(fp string) (string, error) {
 
 // ReadFileBytes expands home directory and reads a file.
 func ReadFileBytes(fp string) ([]byte, error) {
-	var err error
-	fp, err = expandHomePath(fp)
+	if fp == "" {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot expand an empty string")
+	}
+	fp, err := expandHomePath(fp)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}