diff --git a/lib/modules/platform/github/index.spec.ts b/lib/modules/platform/github/index.spec.ts
index ca15ae314d6da8f7f2e86418e5b94cd3dc249e93..9fac0812ddfa151a89e582bc01b9c9eb185d10ff 100644
--- a/lib/modules/platform/github/index.spec.ts
+++ b/lib/modules/platform/github/index.spec.ts
@@ -3202,7 +3202,7 @@ describe('modules/platform/github/index', () => {
           files,
         })
       );
-      git.fetchCommit.mockImplementation(() => Promise.resolve('0abcdef'));
+      git.fetchBranch.mockImplementation(() => Promise.resolve('0abcdef'));
     });
 
     it('returns null if pre-commit phase has failed', async () => {
diff --git a/lib/modules/platform/github/index.ts b/lib/modules/platform/github/index.ts
index 7162a9749554cf73ba21ffe8c88119768e943fe0..7c9ac146a375bce2c1654bca45e52b1cc063a8cf 100644
--- a/lib/modules/platform/github/index.ts
+++ b/lib/modules/platform/github/index.ts
@@ -1836,6 +1836,6 @@ export async function commitFiles(
   // Replace locally created branch with the remotely created one
   // and return the remote commit SHA
   await git.resetToCommit(commitResult.parentCommitSha);
-  const commitSha = await git.fetchCommit(config);
+  const commitSha = await git.fetchBranch(branchName);
   return commitSha;
 }
diff --git a/lib/util/git/error.ts b/lib/util/git/error.ts
index 19b8ab6a528103ebebf9d8360d3a20e798d763bd..b006e1f1425beea4b027273d1a3980c8be693c62 100644
--- a/lib/util/git/error.ts
+++ b/lib/util/git/error.ts
@@ -73,9 +73,9 @@ export function checkForPlatformFailure(err: Error): Error | null {
 
 // istanbul ignore next
 export function handleCommitError(
-  files: FileChange[],
+  err: Error,
   branchName: string,
-  err: Error
+  files?: FileChange[]
 ): null {
   checkForPlatformFailure(err);
   if (err.message.includes(`'refs/heads/renovate' exists`)) {
diff --git a/lib/util/git/index.spec.ts b/lib/util/git/index.spec.ts
index 1f205f85bd489361f379d7e9d95ffff6b0dca90a..1551fdca230c63ba75b4582e0d6665f9c3f3b9a0 100644
--- a/lib/util/git/index.spec.ts
+++ b/lib/util/git/index.spec.ts
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ describe('util/git/index', () => {
         message: 'Update something',
       };
       const commitSha = await git.commitFiles(commitConfig);
-      const remoteSha = await git.fetchCommit(commitConfig);
+      const remoteSha = await git.fetchBranch(commitConfig.branchName);
       expect(commitSha).toEqual(remoteSha);
     });
 
diff --git a/lib/util/git/index.ts b/lib/util/git/index.ts
index 2df34dfdcd43b9dfc305fbb759f4fd340929b38f..806bda394b98894d4be36aa39d8ddf457c7265c3 100644
--- a/lib/util/git/index.ts
+++ b/lib/util/git/index.ts
@@ -1024,7 +1024,7 @@ export async function prepareCommit({
 
     return result;
   } catch (err) /* istanbul ignore next */ {
-    return handleCommitError(files, branchName, err);
+    return handleCommitError(err, branchName, files);
   }
 }
 
@@ -1053,15 +1053,14 @@ export async function pushCommit({
     incLimitedValue('Commits');
     result = true;
   } catch (err) /* istanbul ignore next */ {
-    handleCommitError(files, sourceRef, err);
+    handleCommitError(err, sourceRef, files);
   }
   return result;
 }
 
-export async function fetchCommit({
-  branchName,
-  files,
-}: CommitFilesConfig): Promise<CommitSha | null> {
+export async function fetchBranch(
+  branchName: string
+): Promise<CommitSha | null> {
   await syncGit();
   logger.debug(`Fetching branch ${branchName}`);
   try {
@@ -1072,7 +1071,7 @@ export async function fetchCommit({
     config.branchIsModified[branchName] = false;
     return commit;
   } catch (err) /* istanbul ignore next */ {
-    return handleCommitError(files, branchName, err);
+    return handleCommitError(err, branchName);
   }
 }