I have four credit cards that I've accumulated over the years. I only use one of them once in a while, but there is one I want to apply for because it has a much better interest rate.So, does it hurt you if you have a lot of cards in your name, or is it just based on how high your balances are? Like, if you had 10 cards all with zero balances, would that affect you negatively for having so many?

Generally having more than three cards is too many. Having a lot of available credit is not good to have especially if you do not have a high income job. Besides what would happen to you tonight, if you lost or all of your credit cards were stolen? Keeping up with three cards is enough work for most people.

if you have 4 cards with low or zero balances - that's good - they like to see how low your balances are compared to your credit limits - a $400 balance on a $500 limit card looks worse than $1000 total balance on 4 cards with a total limit of 5000

Probably! It hurts more to get a mortgage with so many open ended cards. Apply for that one and balance transfer over if you can. Close out 2 other ones.

Put in writing closed by consumer.

NO if you paid on time.
4 cretit cards is a good number (bad for me)
If you want cancell some CCard w bad interest, a small loan consolidation with low interest is the best for your score. I found interesting information about your answer & options here. http://all-debt-consolidation-loan.blogspot.com/2007/07/loan-consolidation.htmlGood luck!