Hi coby, welcome to englishforums.
That's a common problem among learners. It's been discussed several times, so try the search function of this forum (top right corner, there's the search box). Search for "simple past" and "present perfect", and you'll definitely find tons of threads about the difference between them.
I can only say that often there's not much difference, and either could be used in a certain context. Looking at your sentences, and imagining a probable context, I'd say both of them are very likely to be ok in your case.