What actually is the BIC what does it look like where do you get it?

Answer 1

The BIC is an international bank code organized by SWIFT. It consints of

4 characters bank code

2 characters country code (e.g. DE for Germany)

2 characters location code (e.g. FF for frankfurt)

sometimes 3 characters branch code

There's a little glossary on http://www.bankers-telenet.com/glossary/ where you also can get more information about most banks - an their BICs.