diff --git a/src/daemon/wallet/coco-client.test.ts b/src/daemon/wallet/coco-client.test.ts
index 3711300..e18e7c2 100644
--- a/src/daemon/wallet/coco-client.test.ts
+++ b/src/daemon/wallet/coco-client.test.ts
@@ -1355,6 +1355,32 @@ describe("runMintQuoteRecovery", () => {
     expect(result.errors).toEqual([{ operationId: "op-1", error: "original failure" }]);
   });
 
+  it("surfaces the persisted mint error even when the mint budget is nearly spent", async () => {
+    const { source } = fakeSource([mintOp()], {
+      observe: async () => ({ category: "ready" }),
+      finalize: async () => {
+        // Consume almost the whole per-op mint budget before throwing: exactly
+        // the slow-mint case where a diagnostic bound to remaining() would
+        // starve and silently fall back to the generic message.
+        await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 25));
+        throw new Error("remains pending");
+      },
+    });
+    source.ops.mint.get = async () => {
+      await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 50));
+      return {
+        ...mintOp(),
+        state: "pending",
+        error: "keyset id inactive.",
+      };
+    };
+    const result = await runMintQuoteRecovery(source, { timeoutMs: 30 });
+    expect(result).toMatchObject({ retryable: 1, recovered: 0 });
+    expect(result.errors).toEqual([
+      { operationId: "op-1", error: "keyset id inactive." },
+    ]);
+  });
+
   it("bounds finalize so one hung mint cannot block recovery", async () => {
     const { source } = fakeSource([mintOp()], {
       observe: async () => ({ category: "ready" }),
diff --git a/src/daemon/wallet/coco-client.ts b/src/daemon/wallet/coco-client.ts
index 900088d..970516e 100644
--- a/src/daemon/wallet/coco-client.ts
+++ b/src/daemon/wallet/coco-client.ts
@@ -1002,6 +1002,14 @@ export function createRunQueue(): <T>(run: () => Promise<T>) => Promise<T> {
 /** Per-quote budget for the mint round-trip during explicit recovery. */
 const MINT_QUOTE_RECOVERY_TIMEOUT_MS = 20_000;
 
+/**
+ * Bound for the local post-finalize diagnostic read. This is a database
+ * lookup, not a mint round-trip, so it gets its own small budget: the per-op
+ * mint budget is often already spent when finalize throws, and a starved
+ * diagnostic would silently fall back to the generic error message.
+ */
+const DIAGNOSTIC_LOOKUP_TIMEOUT_MS = 250;
+
 /**
  * Recover mint quotes whose sats are PAID at the mint but were never claimed.
  *
@@ -1142,7 +1150,8 @@ export async function runMintQuoteRecovery(
     }
     result.checked++;
     // One budget per operation, shared by the mint check and the finalize, so
-    // a slow mint cannot silently double the documented per-quote wait.
+    // a slow mint cannot silently double the documented per-quote wait. The
+    // local post-finalize diagnostic read is exempt (DIAGNOSTIC_LOOKUP_TIMEOUT_MS).
     const deadlineAt = Date.now() + timeoutMs;
     const remaining = () => Math.max(1, deadlineAt - Date.now());
 
@@ -1225,7 +1234,7 @@ export async function runMintQuoteRecovery(
         // persisted the actionable mint rejection (for example inactive keyset).
         const current = await withTimeout(
           source.ops.mint.get(operationId),
-          remaining(),
+          Math.max(remaining(), DIAGNOSTIC_LOOKUP_TIMEOUT_MS),
         ).catch(() => null);
         const detail = current?.state === "pending" && current.error
           ? current.error