diff --git a/module_build_service/scm.py b/module_build_service/scm.py
index aa30f06b..f7be6f51 100644
--- a/module_build_service/scm.py
+++ b/module_build_service/scm.py
@@ -185,6 +185,8 @@ class SCM(object):
         :returns: a string of the latest commit hash
         :raises: RuntimeError
         """
+        if ref is None:
+            ref = 'master'
         if self.scheme == "git":
             log.debug("Getting/verifying commit hash for %s" % self.repository)
             # get all the branches on the remote
@@ -195,8 +197,11 @@ class SCM(object):
             # {"master": "bf028e573e7c18533d89c7873a411de92d4d913e"...}.
             branches = {}
             for branch_and_ref in output.strip().split("\n"):
+                # Only look at refs/heads/* and not refs/remotes/origin/*
+                if "refs/heads/" not in branch_and_ref:
+                    continue
                 # This grabs the last bit of text after the last "/", which is the branch name
-                cur_branch = branch_and_ref.split("\t")[-1].split("/")[-1]
+                cur_branch = branch_and_ref.split("\t")[-1].split("refs/heads/")[-1]
                 # This grabs the text before the first tab, which is the commit hash
                 cur_ref = branch_and_ref.split("\t")[0]
                 branches[cur_branch] = cur_ref
diff --git a/tests/test_scm.py b/tests/test_scm.py
index 67f37165..042ab931 100644
--- a/tests/test_scm.py
+++ b/tests/test_scm.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import shutil
 import tempfile
 
 import unittest
+from mock import patch
 from nose.tools import raises
 
 import module_build_service.scm
@@ -140,3 +141,15 @@ class TestSCMModule(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_get_latest_incorect_component_ref(self):
         scm = module_build_service.scm.SCM(repo_path)
         scm.get_latest('15481faa232d66589e660cc301179867fb00842c9')
+
+    @patch.object(module_build_service.scm.SCM, '_run')
+    def test_get_latest_ignore_origin(self, mock_run):
+        output = """\
+58379ef7887cbc91b215bacd32430628c92bc869\tHEAD
+58379ef7887cbc91b215bacd32430628c92bc869\trefs/heads/master
+10a651f39911a07d85fe87fcfe91999545e44ae0\trefs/remotes/origin/master
+"""
+        mock_run.return_value = (0, output, '')
+        scm = module_build_service.scm.SCM(repo_path)
+        commit = scm.get_latest(None)
+        self.assertEquals(commit, '58379ef7887cbc91b215bacd32430628c92bc869')