diff --git a/src/d_clisrv.c b/src/d_clisrv.c
index 00f710932..8b1d121c5 100644
--- a/src/d_clisrv.c
+++ b/src/d_clisrv.c
@@ -2260,11 +2260,15 @@ void D_SaveBan(void)
 	size_t i;
 	banreason_t *reasonlist = reasonhead;
 	const char *address, *mask;
+	const char *path = va("%s"PATHSEP"%s", srb2home, "ban.txt");
 
 	if (!reasonhead)
+	{
+		remove(path);
 		return;
+	}
 
-	f = fopen(va("%s"PATHSEP"%s", srb2home, "ban.txt"), "w");
+	f = fopen(path, "w");
 
 	if (!f)
 	{
@@ -2308,16 +2312,14 @@ static void Ban_Add(const char *reason)
 	reasontail = reasonlist;
 }
 
-static void Command_ClearBans(void)
+static void Ban_Clear(void)
 {
 	banreason_t *temp;
 
-	if (!I_ClearBans)
-		return;
-
 	I_ClearBans();
-	D_SaveBan();
+
 	reasontail = NULL;
+
 	while (reasonhead)
 	{
 		temp = reasonhead->next;
@@ -2327,6 +2329,15 @@ static void Command_ClearBans(void)
 	}
 }
 
+static void Command_ClearBans(void)
+{
+	if (!I_ClearBans)
+		return;
+
+	Ban_Clear();
+	D_SaveBan();
+}
+
 static void Ban_Load_File(boolean warning)
 {
 	FILE *f;
@@ -2334,6 +2345,9 @@ static void Ban_Load_File(boolean warning)
 	const char *address, *mask;
 	char buffer[MAX_WADPATH];
 
+	if (!I_ClearBans)
+		return;
+
 	f = fopen(va("%s"PATHSEP"%s", srb2home, "ban.txt"), "r");
 
 	if (!f)
@@ -2343,13 +2357,7 @@ static void Ban_Load_File(boolean warning)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	if (I_ClearBans)
-		Command_ClearBans();
-	else
-	{
-		fclose(f);
-		return;
-	}
+	Ban_Clear();
 
 	for (i=0; fgets(buffer, (int)sizeof(buffer), f); i++)
 	{