diff --git a/plugins/libplugin-pay.c b/plugins/libplugin-pay.c
index cb212236bd7e..2792bc1b136b 100644
--- a/plugins/libplugin-pay.c
+++ b/plugins/libplugin-pay.c
@@ -3479,6 +3479,15 @@ static struct command_result *direct_pay_override(struct payment *p)
 	hint = channel_hint_set_find(root->hints, d->chan);
 	if (hint && hint->enabled &&
 	    amount_msat_greater(hint->estimated_capacity, p->our_amount)) {
+		if (p->getroute->cltv > p->constraints.cltv_budget) {
+			paymod_log(p, LOG_DBG,
+				   "Direct channel (%s) skipped: "
+				   "CLTV delay %u exceeds budget %u.",
+				   fmt_short_channel_id_dir(tmpctx, &hint->scid),
+				   p->getroute->cltv, p->constraints.cltv_budget);
+			return payment_continue(p);
+		}
+
 		/* Now build a route that consists only of this single hop */
 		p->route = tal_arr(p, struct route_hop, 1);
 		p->route[0].amount = p->our_amount;
diff --git a/tests/test_pay.py b/tests/test_pay.py
index 442e35d73756..f159689b1cce 100644
--- a/tests/test_pay.py
+++ b/tests/test_pay.py
@@ -150,6 +150,17 @@ def test_pay_limits(node_factory):
     assert status[0]['strategy'] == "Initial attempt"
 
 
+def test_pay_maxdelay_direct_channel(node_factory):
+    """Test that maxdelay is enforced even for direct channel payments"""
+    l1, l2 = node_factory.line_graph(2, wait_for_announce=True)
+
+    inv = l2.rpc.invoice('10000msat', 'test_pay_maxdelay_direct', 'description')['bolt11']
+
+    # Delay too low for direct channel.
+    with pytest.raises(RpcError, match=r'CLTV delay exceeds our CLTV budget'):
+        l1.rpc.call('pay', {'bolt11': inv, 'maxdelay': 1})
+
+
 def test_pay_exclude_node(node_factory, bitcoind):
     """Test excluding the node if there's the NODE-level error in the failure_code
     """