diff --git a/autoload/youcompleteme.vim b/autoload/youcompleteme.vim
index a685d168..3b440a55 100644
--- a/autoload/youcompleteme.vim
+++ b/autoload/youcompleteme.vim
@@ -136,9 +136,12 @@ endfunction
 
 
 function! s:AllowedToCompleteInCurrentFile()
+  let current_filetype = &filetype
+  if !current_filetype
+    return 0
   " If the user set the current filetype as a filetype that YCM should ignore,
   " then we don't do anything
-  return !get( g:ycm_filetypes_to_completely_ignore, &filetype, 0 )
+  return !get( g:ycm_filetypes_to_completely_ignore, current_filetype, 0 )
 endfunction