Digital lending has expanded access to short-term credit in Uganda by enabling consumers to apply for, receive and repay loans through digital channels. Although this can advance financial inclusion, it also creates risks involving over-indebtedness, opaque credit decisions, excessive personal-data collection, abusive debt recovery and limited access to redress. This article examines whether Uganda’s legal and regulatory framework adequately addresses these risks. It uses doctrinal legal research to analyse the Tier 4 Microfinance Institutions and Money Lenders Act, the 2024 Digital Lending Guidelines, the Data Protection and Privacy Act, payment-system regulation and related instruments. A comparative analysis of Kenya’s digital-credit framework identifies regulatory approaches relevant to Uganda. The article finds that Uganda is not wholly unregulated: existing law recognises customer protection, responsible pricing, confidentiality, complaints handling and restrictions on abusive collection. However, fragmentation, enforcement challenges and limited technological specificity weaken protection where lending depends on automated assessment and extensive data processing. The article proposes a Responsible Digital Lending Framework built around affordability, transparent total-cost disclosure, responsible data use, accountable automated assessment, ethical debt collection, accessible redress and regulatory coordination. It recommends proportionate affordability checks, better controls for multiple borrowing, clearer disclosure, stronger data governance and a coordinated complaints pathway. The aim is to protect borrowers while preserving responsible financial innovation.