diff --git a/app/models/project.rb b/app/models/project.rb
index 52f70256be305f3ad4aa1ae6b79ccd5b6af50d1c..941e444a4f805a1391ca48400e556fd15008a186 100644
--- a/app/models/project.rb
+++ b/app/models/project.rb
@@ -418,7 +418,7 @@ class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
   def create_or_update_import_data(credentials)
     project_import_data = import_data || build_import_data
     project_import_data.credentials ||= {}
-    project_import_data.credentials.merge!(credentials)
+    project_import_data.credentials = project_import_data.credentials.merge(credentials)
     project_import_data.save
   end
 
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/github_import/importer.rb b/lib/gitlab/github_import/importer.rb
index a5d3ab5fcf1c110f2aae85c0f6be0282a87cadb6..0b1ed510229fd6e2b23f031005e8dd2a88177b1a 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/github_import/importer.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/github_import/importer.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ module Gitlab
       def initialize(project)
         @project = project
         if import_data_credentials
-          @client = Client.new(import_data_credentials['user'])
+          @client = Client.new(import_data_credentials[:user])
           @formatter = Gitlab::ImportFormatter.new
         else
           raise Projects::ImportService::Error, "Unable to find project import data credentials for project ID: #{@project.id}"