diff --git a/api/internal/target/kusttarget.go b/api/internal/target/kusttarget.go
index eefa1ac63..44c82bc59 100644
--- a/api/internal/target/kusttarget.go
+++ b/api/internal/target/kusttarget.go
@@ -425,7 +425,14 @@ func (kt *KustTarget) accumulateResources(
 			}
 			ldr, err := kt.ldr.New(path)
 			if err != nil {
-				if kusterr.IsMalformedYAMLError(errF) { // Some error occurred while tyring to decode YAML file
+				// If accumulateFile found malformed YAML and there was a failure
+				// loading the resource as a base, then the resource is likely a
+				// file. The loader failure message is unnecessary, and could be
+				// confusing. Report only the file load error.
+				//
+				// However, a loader timeout implies there is a git repo at the
+				// path. In that case, both errors could be important.
+				if kusterr.IsMalformedYAMLError(errF) && !utils.IsErrTimeout(err) {
 					return nil, errF
 				}
 				return nil, errors.WrapPrefixf(
diff --git a/api/internal/utils/errtimeout.go b/api/internal/utils/errtimeout.go
index c1761d2c6..a0d861c7b 100644
--- a/api/internal/utils/errtimeout.go
+++ b/api/internal/utils/errtimeout.go
@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ type errTimeOut struct {
 	cmd      string
 }
 
-func NewErrTimeOut(d time.Duration, c string) errTimeOut {
-	return errTimeOut{duration: d, cmd: c}
+func NewErrTimeOut(d time.Duration, c string) *errTimeOut {
+	return &errTimeOut{duration: d, cmd: c}
 }
 
-func (e errTimeOut) Error() string {
+func (e *errTimeOut) Error() string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("hit %s timeout running '%s'", e.duration, e.cmd)
 }