diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/1304-aws_rds-config.yml b/changelogs/fragments/1304-aws_rds-config.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bd32f37f82b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/1304-aws_rds-config.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+- aws_rds - fixes bug in RDS inventory plugin where config file was ignored (https://github.com/ansible-collections/amazon.aws/issues/1304).
diff --git a/plugins/inventory/aws_rds.py b/plugins/inventory/aws_rds.py
index e03464168f7..02f86073a0a 100644
--- a/plugins/inventory/aws_rds.py
+++ b/plugins/inventory/aws_rds.py
@@ -360,6 +360,7 @@ def parse(self, inventory, loader, path, cache=True):
         if not HAS_BOTO3:
             raise AnsibleError(missing_required_lib('botocore and boto3'))
 
+        self._read_config_data(path)
         self._set_credentials()
 
         # get user specifications