diff --git a/src/backends/github/API.js b/src/backends/github/API.js
index 68ed693f..934e0c44 100644
--- a/src/backends/github/API.js
+++ b/src/backends/github/API.js
@@ -19,17 +19,13 @@ export default class API {
     return this.request("/user");
   }
 
-  isCollaborator(user) {
-    return this.request('/user/repos').then((repos) => {
-      let contributor = false
-      for (const repo of repos) {
-        if (repo.full_name.toLowerCase() === this.repo.toLowerCase() && repo.permissions.push) contributor = true;
-      }
-      return contributor;
-    }).catch((error) => {
-      console.error("Problem with response of /user/repos from GitHub");
-      throw error;
-    })
+  hasWriteAccess() {
+    return this.request(this.repoURL)
+      .then(repo => repo.permissions.push)
+      .catch(error => {
+        console.error("Problem fetching repo data from GitHub");
+        throw error;
+      });
   }
 
   requestHeaders(headers = {}) {
diff --git a/src/backends/github/implementation.js b/src/backends/github/implementation.js
index 116f6789..8f978fa0 100644
--- a/src/backends/github/implementation.js
+++ b/src/backends/github/implementation.js
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export default class GitHub {
     this.token = state.token;
     this.api = new API({ token: this.token, branch: this.branch, repo: this.repo, api_root: this.api_root });
     return this.api.user().then(user =>
-      this.api.isCollaborator(user.login).then((isCollab) => {
+      this.api.hasWriteAccess().then((isCollab) => {
         // Unauthorized user
         if (!isCollab) throw new Error("Your GitHub user account does not have access to this repo.");
         // Authorized user