diff --git a/src/cmds/restic/cmd_forget.go b/src/cmds/restic/cmd_forget.go
index df6d97062..da1f4d4cc 100644
--- a/src/cmds/restic/cmd_forget.go
+++ b/src/cmds/restic/cmd_forget.go
@@ -94,7 +94,20 @@ func (cmd CmdForget) Execute(args []string) error {
 		} else {
 			cmd.global.Verbosef("would removed snapshot %v\n", id.Str())
 		}
+	}
 
+	policy := restic.ExpirePolicy{
+		Last:    cmd.Last,
+		Hourly:  cmd.Hourly,
+		Daily:   cmd.Daily,
+		Weekly:  cmd.Weekly,
+		Monthly: cmd.Monthly,
+		Yearly:  cmd.Yearly,
+	}
+
+	if policy.Empty() {
+		cmd.global.Verbosef("no expire policy configured, exiting\n")
+		return nil
 	}
 
 	// then, load all remaining snapshots
@@ -118,15 +131,6 @@ func (cmd CmdForget) Execute(args []string) error {
 		snapshotGroups[k] = list
 	}
 
-	policy := restic.ExpirePolicy{
-		Last:    cmd.Last,
-		Hourly:  cmd.Hourly,
-		Daily:   cmd.Daily,
-		Weekly:  cmd.Weekly,
-		Monthly: cmd.Monthly,
-		Yearly:  cmd.Yearly,
-	}
-
 	for key, snapshotGroup := range snapshotGroups {
 		cmd.global.Printf("snapshots for host %v, directories %v:\n\n", key.Hostname, key.Dirs)
 		keep, remove := restic.ApplyPolicy(snapshotGroup, policy)