diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/BeanDeserializer.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/BeanDeserializer.java
index d0b6d7e95f..23d989e83d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/BeanDeserializer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/BeanDeserializer.java
@@ -789,7 +789,9 @@ protected Object deserializeUsingPropertyBasedWithExternalTypeId(JsonParser p, D
SettableBeanProperty creatorProp = creator.findCreatorProperty(propName);
if (creatorProp != null) {
// first: let's check to see if this might be part of value with external type id:
- if (ext.handlePropertyValue(p, ctxt, propName, buffer)) {
+ // 11-Sep-2015, tatu: Important; do NOT pass buffer as last arg, but null,
+ // since it is not the bean
+ if (ext.handlePropertyValue(p, ctxt, propName, null)) {
;
} else {
// Last creator property to set?