diff --git a/src/main/java/org/datadog/jmxfetch/Instance.java b/src/main/java/org/datadog/jmxfetch/Instance.java
index fc89db45d..77908b0fb 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/datadog/jmxfetch/Instance.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/datadog/jmxfetch/Instance.java
@@ -82,10 +82,10 @@ public Instance(LinkedHashMap<String, Object> yamlInstance, LinkedHashMap<String
             // Useful because sometimes if the application restarts, jmxfetch might read
             // a jmxtree that is not completely initialized and would be missing some attributes
         }
-        
-        this.minCollectionPeriod = (Integer) yaml.get("min_collection_period");
-        if (this.minCollectionPeriod == null) {
-        	this.minCollectionPeriod = (Integer) initConfig.get("min_collection_period");
+
+        this.minCollectionPeriod = (Integer) yaml.get("min_collection_interval");
+        if (this.minCollectionPeriod == null && initConfig != null) {
+        	this.minCollectionPeriod = (Integer) initConfig.get("min_collection_interval");
         }
         this.lastCollectionTime = 0;
         this.lastRefreshTime = 0;
diff --git a/src/test/resources/jmx_min_collection_period.yml b/src/test/resources/jmx_min_collection_period.yml
index 02677231f..76ae06318 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/jmx_min_collection_period.yml
+++ b/src/test/resources/jmx_min_collection_period.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ init_config:
 
 instances:
   -   process_name_regex: .*surefire.*
-      min_collection_period: 5
+      min_collection_interval: 5
       name: jmx_test_instance
       conf:
           - include:
@@ -13,4 +13,4 @@ instances:
                       alias: this.is.100.$foo.$qux
                   Hashmap.thisis0:
                       metric_type: gauge
-                      alias: $domain.$qux.$attribute
\ No newline at end of file
+                      alias: $domain.$qux.$attribute