diff --git a/plugins/libplugin-pay.c b/plugins/libplugin-pay.c
index 3b38378a6..95f47ad9e 100644
--- a/plugins/libplugin-pay.c
+++ b/plugins/libplugin-pay.c
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@ static void payment_exclude_most_expensive(struct payment *p)
 	hint.scid.scid = e->channel_id;
 	hint.scid.dir = e->direction;
 	hint.enabled = false;
+	hint.local = false;
 	tal_arr_expand(&root->channel_hints, hint);
 }
 
@@ -218,6 +219,7 @@ static void payment_exclude_longest_delay(struct payment *p)
 	hint.scid.scid = e->channel_id;
 	hint.scid.dir = e->direction;
 	hint.enabled = false;
+	hint.local = false;
 	tal_arr_expand(&root->channel_hints, hint);
 }
 
@@ -278,6 +280,14 @@ static void payment_chanhints_apply_route(struct payment *p, bool remove)
 			if (short_channel_id_eq(&curhint->scid.scid,
 						&curhop->channel_id) &&
 			    curhint->scid.dir == curhop->direction) {
+
+				/* Update the number of htlcs for any local
+				 * channel in the route */
+				if (curhint->local && remove)
+					curhint->htlc_budget++;
+				else if (curhint->local)
+					curhint->htlc_budget--;
+
 				if (remove && !amount_msat_add(
 						  &curhint->estimated_capacity,
 						  curhint->estimated_capacity,
@@ -392,6 +402,10 @@ payment_get_excluded_channels(const tal_t *ctx, struct payment *p)
 		else if (amount_msat_greater_eq(p->amount,
 						hint->estimated_capacity))
 			tal_arr_expand(&res, hint->scid);
+		else if (hint->local && hint->htlc_budget == 0)
+			/* If we cannot add any HTLCs to the channel we
+			 * shouldn't look for a route through that channel */
+			tal_arr_expand(&res, hint->scid);
 	}
 	return res;
 }
@@ -1603,7 +1617,8 @@ static struct command_result *
 local_channel_hints_listpeers(struct command *cmd, const char *buffer,
 			      const jsmntok_t *toks, struct payment *p)
 {
-	const jsmntok_t *peers, *peer, *channels, *channel, *spendsats, *scid, *dir, *connected;
+	const jsmntok_t *peers, *peer, *channels, *channel, *spendsats, *scid,
+	    *dir, *connected, *max_htlc, *htlcs;
 	size_t i, j;
 	peers = json_get_member(buffer, toks, "peers");
 
@@ -1622,7 +1637,12 @@ local_channel_hints_listpeers(struct command *cmd, const char *buffer,
 			spendsats = json_get_member(buffer, channel, "spendable_msat");
 			scid = json_get_member(buffer, channel, "short_channel_id");
 			dir = json_get_member(buffer, channel, "direction");
-			if(spendsats == NULL || scid == NULL || dir == NULL)
+			max_htlc = json_get_member(buffer, channel, "max_accepted_htlcs");
+			htlcs = json_get_member(buffer, channel, "htlcs");
+			if (spendsats == NULL || scid == NULL || dir == NULL ||
+			    max_htlc == NULL ||
+			    max_htlc->type != JSMN_PRIMITIVE || htlcs == NULL ||
+			    htlcs->type != JSMN_ARRAY)
 				continue;
 
 			json_to_bool(buffer, connected, &h.enabled);
@@ -1630,6 +1650,16 @@ local_channel_hints_listpeers(struct command *cmd, const char *buffer,
 			json_to_int(buffer, dir, &h.scid.dir);
 
 			json_to_msat(buffer, spendsats, &h.estimated_capacity);
+
+			/* Take the configured number of max_htlcs and
+			 * subtract any HTLCs that might already be added to
+			 * the channel. This is a best effort estimate and
+			 * mostly considers stuck htlcs, concurrent payments
+			 * may throw us off a bit. */
+			json_to_u16(buffer, max_htlc, &h.htlc_budget);
+			h.htlc_budget -= htlcs->size;
+			h.local = true;
+
 			tal_arr_expand(&p->channel_hints, h);
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/plugins/libplugin-pay.h b/plugins/libplugin-pay.h
index 7c52173d6..a1d272984 100644
--- a/plugins/libplugin-pay.h
+++ b/plugins/libplugin-pay.h
@@ -69,6 +69,14 @@ struct channel_hint {
 
 	/* Is the channel enabled? */
 	bool enabled;
+
+	/* True if we are one endpoint of this channel */
+	bool local;
+
+	/* How many more htlcs can we send over this channel? Only set if this
+	 * is a local channel, because those are the channels we have exact
+	 * numbers on, and they are the bottleneck onto the network. */
+	u16 htlc_budget;
 };
 
 /* Each payment goes through a number of steps that are always processed in